Slashdot Mirror
EU Data Protection Proposal Taken Word For Word From US Lobbyists
Qedward writes "Glyn Moody looks at the proposed EU directive on Data Protection — and how some of the proposed amendments seem to be cut and pasted directly from the American Chamber of Commerce — that well-known European organisation... You might ask, Glyn writes, who are these MEPs representing — some 500 million EU citizens that pay their salary or a bunch of extremely rich U.S. companies intent on taking away our privacy?"
Lobbyplag lets you look at which lobbyist wrote each part of the bill. Fears of the U.S. exerting undue influence seem to be justified.
they are just trying to save their grey matter... working is something prohibited for them!
Not like we didn't know already, but it's still nice to see some proof once in a while. I hope this taints the whole proposal enough so they won't be able to push it through. I guess from time to time politicians need a Zero rupee note to remind them.
Imagine the outrage in the US if Chinese or European groups drafted a law for congress.
In US, lobbyists are the guys (officially) donating money to the candidate (which is, sadly, allowed). But I don't believe that such "donations" are allowed in EU.
So what does it even mean "US lobbyist" here? Isn't simply giving money to MEPs illegal??
Welcome to the global economy, Skippy. What makes international graft and influence peddling any different from the common domestic kind? Is the EU so ethically superior to the US, Russia, or China?
Scruting the inscrutable for over 50 years.
It's hard to get rid of the lobbyists, but at least you should be able to get rid of the corrupt MEPs who listen to them.
These fat cat euro bureocrats are MUCH WORSE than the americana equivalents because under european system there arent no real primaries but politica parties nominate from their long standing "faithful" which is mostly people in their 50's or worse , thus assuring The establishment rules always...European citizens are DENIED THE RIGHT TO DO REFERENDUMS to vote for or against anyrhing.
Clearly this is being rejected by the europeans citizens and will certainly cause the implosion of the european union.
US citizens don't want this either. As a German, I say, it's not right to blame them too. Yes, there's a pathetic passivity when it comes to rising up and saying no. But are we sure we wouldn't be too, in the face of intelligence agencies that actively disrupt any form of protest with false flag moles and propaganda / mass media (See: Occupy movement, W(ikileaks) T(ask) F(orce), even in other countries, like with the "orange revolution"), and eating mostly tiring high-fructose high-fat "food". I'm pretty sure that would leave me apathetic too.
This is the government. And with that, I do not mean what e.g. teabaggers think they mean. I mean the corporations and their lobbyists. The actual ruling class in the US (and here too, mostly). The teabaggers just have never experienced an actual government, that is on their side against the ruling class. (Think French revolution against the nobility, or US independence against [foreign] nobility.) So you have to understand why they think they want a small "government". They actually want less lobbyists. Just like everyone else does.
So... how about that? Let's get rid of lobbyists once and for all. Since the US government is already taken by them, we cannot rely on them ever changing that. Since the whole governmental system around it, is already shaped to allow nothing else, we cannot use elections or mass-media, etc, to do this. It has to come in the form of a "high-road" revolution, where the US citizens will push forward no matter what, but will not engage in the evilnesses, mass-murder, terrorism, etc, the corporation-rulers will no doubt engage in. No matter what. Otherwise it will just end up being the same after the revolution, since those revolting will have become like the ones they hated, in the process.
As a German, who grew up in the 80s, let me say: I can haz cool America back again?
And if you have any doubt that non-open influence of leaders is bad, please read Animal farm by George Orwell to see an example of how bad things can get.
When you are sure of something, you probably are wrong (search for "Unskilled and Unaware of It").
Fears of the rich exerting undue influence seem to be justified.
FTFY. Surprise, surprise! Lawyers, politicians, bureaucrats and lobbyists. Did anyone expect anything other than this result?!?
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit
If you get a bunch of expert debaters and politicians, then ask them to make decisions about a complex and sensitive matter that they have no idea about, they are going to ask someone who knows a little more than them. They are going to be more able to listen to the louder voices among those who know more. It may just be that the loudest voices on the planet belong to Americans. I mean American companies.
...
That data looks pretty safe to me, I mean, what could possibly go wrong
In all seriousness though if these amendments are too ludicrous they won't go past proposals, and if they do they will struggle to make it to domestic legislation.
we hope.
Funny to see that the commitee members having the highest percentage of amemdement made by US companies are comming from UK....
I have no idea of how you guys elect your MEPs, but at least in Finland we have many people from all parties running for the EU parliament. I can vote for any of them. It's true that parties do use the EU parliament as a dumping ground for old politicians, but the lists always contain new names also and I choose who I vote for.
So, maybe you need to vote for some other party or reform the voting in your own country instead?
Are you really shocked by this? The media companies already own the EU.
Bought and paid for. Just like the rest of the world other than a few 'evil' countries who will eventually bend over just the same. They have no other choice left that doesn't lead to the same end.
At the very least the mega raid should have tipped you all off by now. You WILL dance to the tune of the USA. And the USA dances to the tune of Hollywood.
The only thing you should really be shocked by is it took them this long to roll it out. You'd better get used to the idea. The one world is here. And it's not under the thumb of some evil dictator or secret organization. It's the multinational corporations and the media industry is right there at the top of the list.
And they've already won. We've been handing them money, power, and control for decades now. We are the good little consumers who WILL do as we are told or else. It's all over but the shouting and acceptance if we wan't our nice modern lives to continue.
He was close... But only thought it was one country.
"The real owners are the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians, they're an irrelevancy. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They've long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the statehouses, the city halls. They've got the judges in their back pockets. And they own all the big media companies, so that they control just about all of the news and information you hear. They've got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want; they want more for themselves and less for everybody else."
"But I'll tell you what they don't want. They don't want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don't want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They're not interested in that. That doesn't help them. That's against their interests. They don't want people who are smart enough to sit around the kitchen table and figure out how badly they're getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago.
"You know what they want? Obedient workers people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork but just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, reduced benefits, the end of overtime and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it. And, now, they're coming for your Social Security. They want your fucking retirement money. They want it back, so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street. And you know something? They'll get it. They'll get it all, sooner or later, because they own this fucking place. It's a big club, and you ain't in it. You and I are not in the big club."
-george carlin
You'd think Europe would have the stones to stand up pressure from US corporations.
Having considered emigrating West, I'm actually more inclined to emigrate East; the regimes there are beginning to seem more and more attractive everyday.
(and I'm SO sick of that bogus meme.)
The MEPs send armed thugs to STEAL their salaries from the citizens, when they aren't manipulating their banking system to con or cheat them out of the money.
Saying "I pay your salary!" just encourages them to laugh behind closed doors, like any other successful thug having a guffaw over the antics of his victims. You don't "pay their salaries" unless you're in a position to FIRE them and keep the money, at your own, individual, discretion.
(Over here our ancestors had to fire AT them to get these parasites off their backs. But in the couple of centuries since that time a home-grown population has arisen.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
While it is concerning that a U.S.-based lobby has this much power, the real issue is that nobody should be listening to the American Chamber of Commerce. If the EFF started writing EU legislation, we'd be jumping for joy.
"Fears of the U.S. exerting undue influence seem to be justified." More analytical judgment: bears shitting in the woods seems to be true.
Us, that's who !!
You owe them !!
So they own you !!
Move along !! Move along !!
The worst offenders are from the UK, of which I am a citizen. Unfortunately, none of them represent the area I am from, although I am seriously considering contacting them anyway.
Basically, these pigs with their snouts in the trough are traitors to the UK. By taking the position of US corporations, against the interests of their own citizens, personally I believe their citizenship should be revoked, and they should be deported to the US.
My response to this, and other nonsense regarding IP issues, can be lifted word for word from Arkell v. Pressdram. Both of them.
The US Chamber of Commerce might sound like a government organization, it's not, it's a lobby group for the Republican party in the USA.
When you see them successfully lobbying, it usually involves money, directly or indirectly to the politician concerned, either into their campaigns or sometimes hidden backhanders.
https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/11/02-7
I went there, they refused to display anything unless I enable it - I hate sites like that. I would have read what they had to say, as it is I did not.
At least let them know that constiuents are aware of the lobbying. If you're in the UK you can use www.writetothem.com to send emails to all your elected representatives (local councillors, MPs and MEPs) so drop them a line and the link to lobbyplag. I'm not saying sunlight is disinfectant, but a crack in the curtains might make them a bit more worried that people are peeping in...
"Fears of the U.S. exerting undue influence..." Please don't conflate US based lobbyists exerting influence with the US itself exerting undue influence. Admittedly, we have been known to do that, but at least make the distinction when the offending party is a private party and not the United States itself/themselves.
I for one welcomed our lobbyist overlords years ago
In the US, it might be interesting to pay "campaign contributions" with Zero-dollar notes, to make the point that such payments are nothing more than a legalized form of bribery.
Although it's just a gesture, it costs little to "pay a million" in such notes, and such gestures can be newsworthy.
I've checked all 4 MEPs mentioned in the article: all are Tory (conservative) British MEPs.
This is the party that hammers the most and the hardest the "Blame it on the EU" key.
I am physically sickened (though not at all surprised) that these lowlifes are completelly in the pocked of American interests.
The sooner the UK leaves the EU, the better: we need to get rid of the turncoats working for foreign powers.
Revolving door, I believe it's called.
I know there are abuses, but simply agreeing with a lobbyists is nothing wrong. The MEP, it seems to me, has to think about businesses in Europe as well as individuals so there has to be a balance in the regulations. There could and should be lobbyists on both sides of an issue since all a lobbyists does is represent a group and bring their opinion to the decision makers. So here we have a business lobbyist convincing a conservative (pro business) MEP that the lobbyist's position has merit. Not a tough sell. Since US companies have a stake in the decision then their sharing their opinions is natural. If the MEP agrees with the lobbyists position then using their wording is no surprise.
So until someone starts talking about secret payments of some kind, all I see is someone being convinced.
they're screwed now, won't see thing for another few years though.
At the risk of Godwin, but since its true...
The reverse has happened; there is considerable evidence that the 'Nazi Weapons Law' of 1938' was used as inspiration, if not an actual basis, for parts of the U.S. Gun Control Act of 1968. Not in total, since the Nazi law and preceding German law ironically aimed at curbing the then nacent Nazis, as well as communists, included the forced registration now being demanded by the current Administration to be imposed against Americans.
So we've already had some tastes of European inspired law, thanks. No more is required.
Lobbyists are are the top of their game when their wording disguises the merits.
The problem with our work, and all governments of the past is simpy education.
We don't give a shit about it, so we are stupid and easily taken advantage by our betters. Ignore all rhetoric and fancy stats, just check to see if your country spends more on books or guns to properly guarge your country's future.
I say this not to bash American, but despite a population that understands and values education. They allow their government to completely gut it, hire the least qualified teachers because of low salaries, and use schools as day cares. Now on top of that, vouchers are now a thing, so I guess the gap between the dumb and the haves will only widen.
Saying all this. The solution is evolution or drugs. I am glad american choose drugs. Cause I am almost halfway dead and revolution is pretty painful.
Luckily enough the EU parliament consists of many individualists and providing some of them are made aware of this nice tally of subservience by some of their colleagues I see little chance of these amendments making it into the actual ruling.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
I'll be taking back those internets i gave you earlier, then...