Slashdot Mirror
EU Resists US Lobbying As Privacy War Looms
judgecorp writes "The European Commission is resisting pressure from US firms and public bodies designed to derail its privacy proposals, which include the 'right to be forgotten' that would allow users to demand their data be removed from Internet sites. Facebook and others oppose the right to be forgotten as it would interfere with their ability to market stuff at friends and connections of their users."
The European Commission is resisting pressure from US firms and public bodies designed to derail its privacy proposals
What kind of leverage/offer do they have (particularly the US firms)
I thought you cannot bribe (erm... lobby) European politicians as directly as in US?
all the level of lobbying the US Government does on behalf of corporations?
That alone should be a treasonable offense by public officials. String the state dept up, every single last one of them.
and fuck their ability to market stuff...
... shouldn't be surprised to find that even with successful lobbying to get the EU's initiatives derailed, they'll suffer backlash from their European market. The cultures (yes, multiple) here, you see, are a tad different from what's accepted in USoA interstate commerce. So you can track your consumers' (because customers would have rights, whereas consumers can be, and so are, sold and bought like CDOs) every move and poke them with the most targeted adverts imaginable, down to while they're at the loo. And instead of phenomenal sales growth, you may just find they get sick of you and you start to lose against everyone who isn't quite that aggressive.
The USoA government, of course, has European governments well-cowed and will get the data anyway, but that too will, in the long run, bring more grief than joy. Not that anyone'll listen. If recent history teaches anything, it's that Americans[tm] are too full of themselves and their own petty politics (it's like that music, see? they've got gops AND dems 'round here) to listen to, nevermind respect, anyone else.
Of course, playing nice with others has never been America's strong suit, so why expect them to change now? Just ignore the buggers and hope they don't get a bug up their arses and invade you.
If US corporations are worried about losing their ability to market thanks to comprehensive information on users why don't they pool together and create a non for-profit organisation called something like "transparent society" and pool all the information they would be stripped of there. They would no longer be able to sell such data but if the key argument is that losing the data outright would be detremental to marketing then every company involved stands to gain. Also, any EU regulations on the "right to be forgotten" can be no more than regulations on businesses and is unlikely to apply to such a foundation.
Facebook's not being business smart about this. If the people operating it had any sense, they'd take a page from Brave New World. Make people not care about their privacy enough to use this right; doing this is begging the Streisand Effect to kick in. As it is, a lot of people wouldn't care already.
"The European Commission is resisting pressure from US firms and public bodies designed to derail its privacy proposals"
And that's good or bad? The EU comission is very often providing such stupid rules, that the pressure from firms (including US firms) is very often a welcome breath of fresh air...
Don't fall under the Corporative pressure!!
That there is no single "Internet" from which to delete the data. We are talking about a network that contains billions of nodes, any one of which can cache the data, and may do so without even knowing that they are doing so. It's basically a public space.
You cannot. Because they do not exist. "Welcome breath of fresh air"? Er no, the Commission has the strange idea that citizens deserve to have their rights protected more than corporations deserve the freedom to take them away. That is why the UK neocons want out of the EU: it stands up for ordinary people.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
Fuck you America...from sea to shining sea
I'd imagine it's "no access for private business, but indefinite retention for State purposes".
The thought of the EUSSR allowing worker units to hide their activities is just hilarious.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRTngtsOY8Q
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
How about.... We get our privacy, OR there is war.(?)
Not the PR friendly kind either, nor the kind favorable to the 1%.
captcha: damage
The right to be forgotten is no right at all. What you are talking about is making others forcibly forget.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Bribing/lobbying is illegal in Europe unlike US. People there punish their politicians for accepting bribes. That is why they get a better living experience.
Companies are fighting against this "right" because:
1. It is completely impossible to implement.
2. The burden of attempting to implement is is onerous.
3. Shifting the liability from those who actually have and publish the information to those who only link to it is just wrong.
4. If the data is true, what legal "right" exists to remove it?
5. Existing laws and agreements covering defamation already exist for instances of false information.
6. In many cases, the information was created and/or released by the person themselves -- but they later regret. Sorry, too bad. It's called responsibility for your own actions. Deal with it.
I have often wished I could get a "do over" in life -- but I've never considered that I actually had the right to it.
How would this be implemented? How about people who have the same name? How about variant spellings like "Rob", "Bob", "Bobby", "Robbie", "Bobbie", "Robert", etc.? What if the person only wants "that" video removed? How about photos and videos with no names attached but with identifiable faces? The problems with this "right" are infinite.
To claim that opponents are only upset because of ad revenue is a stupid claim and a complete red herring.
Maybe they finally wizened up to the fact that you don't have to spy on people, companies do that for you, so therefore you just have to stimulate business, I mean pay for that data.
Good leaders run toward problems, bad leaders hide from them.
For a start Brussels is four capital at once (capital of Belgium, capital of the region of Brussels (!), capital of the region of Flanders (really, because they preferred to pick Brussels instead of Anvers and, more importantly, the de facto capital of Europe).
There's more money spent on lobbyism in Brussels than in the U.S.
All the parasites' first choice is to come work to Brussels for the european institutions (EC, EP, Council, etc.). When they fail at that the second best choice is to try to go work lobbies. There are countless job offers, it's crazy.
The bureaucracy is rampant and bribery happens daily... It's really a sad state of (eurocratic) affair.
There's more money spent on lobbyism in Brussels than in the U.S.
Lobbying is sooo 20th century in the USA. Why bother with uncertain lobbying when unlimited private and corporate fundings allows you to buy politicians even before they are elected?
Democracy is dead in the USA. The SCOTUS killed it. But apparently few noticed.
Welcome to your new, offical plutocracy, US "citizens". As a French citizen, I'll mourn your humanist values, which were so close to ours. Our republic is your's little sister. They had fights, like all siblings, but ultimately had more in common than they'd let out. Both had their neuroses. Our's ran away several times, but ultimately came back. And now yours got downright psychotic.
So long.
There's nothing like $HOME
What I'd like to know is...how does this proposed law fit in with, and/or clash with the previous directive that web sites must hold this data for access by EU law enforcement agencies for a period of at least 6 months?
If this proposed law passes as has been explained here on Slashdot, wouldn't users then be given the ability to bypass the data holding period, by immediately requesting deletion after every use?
How would this burden web operators, who would then be caught between two laws that specify completely opposite behaviors?
@Mindless Drivel: 100% of Twitter posts ever Tweeted.