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Groups Accuse EU Parliament of "Caving In" To Pressure From Business and US
angry tapir writes "The European Parliament's industry committee has approved more than 900 amendments to proposed new data protection laws. Civil liberties groups and consumer organizations were quick to accuse members of the Parliament (MEPs) of caving in to pressure from big business and the U.S. 'The Conservative and Liberal parties in the Parliament have voted against the interests of European consumers, who expect MEPs to ensure existing E.U. data protection standards are not diluted,' said Monique Goyens, director general of the European consumer organization, BEUC."
Conservatives and liberals voting against the peoples interest - who would of guessed.
(note for our American friends - liberal means center right here)
Watch this Heartland Institute video
"text that would allow companies that control data and third parties to process personal data without informing consumers, on grounds of "legitimate interest""
"The definition of personal data has also been narrowed to exclude 'pseudonymous data' and suggested safeguards were ignored. This is risky because such data can easily be associated to individuals"
So they don't always have to tell you they're collecting personal info and once your name, phone number, profile picture and other identifying data is stripped, they can do whatever they want with your data?
vote green!
When the same group made such a big deal out of killing ACTA? dog and pony show to make it look like they cared so they could turn around and do this.
_US_ corporations lobbying in the _EU_ -- Disgusting.
Hopefully there'll be a marked drop of Amazon and Ebay customers in the EU after this.
Be concerned for multi billion dollar businesses! We should force all the freely accessible places on the net to disregard all profit making practices and any notion that they could even have the ability to run their affairs in the way they see fit! Places like Facebook belong to the people, the people damn it! We should be able to run it however we want, even if we have to seize the means of service! We'll see about this, it's not over!
Keep legislation out of the net.
Official Response of the EU Parliament: Duh!
We need to act now on this!
http://www.privacycampaign.eu/
This data protection directive is probably the most serious and important thing ever. It will very much determine the direction of the world, data protection wise. Not only for the EU, but the world and not only for the next 15-20 years but probably forever.
If we now manage to get a strong data protection law in the EU, US companies will have to learn to deal with it and will have far less problems with data protection consumer rights in the US as well.
A strong data protection law builds the basis for fighting all other laws that endanger freedom and privacy. Be it SOPA, PIPA, CETA or ACTA like treaties, be it CISPA and cybercrime laws, be it a PATRIOT act, forward data retention, 6 strikes, you name it. A strong data protection law is the basis to fight all these Very Bad Things(tm) and if we don't get the momentum in the civil society to stand up now and fight for the right for privacy, all will be lost.
privacycampaign.eu
This data protection directive is probably the most serious and important thing for net politics ever. It will very much determine the direction of the world, data protection wise. Not only for the EU, but the world and not only for the next 15-20 years but probably forever.
If we now manage to get a strong data protection law in the EU, US companies will have to learn to deal with it and will have far less problems with data protection consumer rights in the US as well.
A strong data protection law builds the basis for fighting all other laws that endanger freedom and privacy. Be it SOPA, PIPA, CETA, ACTA or TPP like treaties, be it CISPA and cybercrime laws, be it a PATRIOT act, forward data retention, 6 strikes, you name it. A strong data protection law is the basis to fight all these Very Bad Things(tm) and if we don't get the momentum in the civil society to stand up now and fight for the right for privacy, all will be lost.
Europeans: keep wirting your MEPs within the next two months. Call them and send them FAX letters. Make sure they know that civil society will rise if they screw it up, like we did with ACTA.
Here you can phone your MEPs for free! Prepare yourself to go onto the streets again.
Time schedule:
Maybe this will sound paranoid, maybe just cynical. I can't really tell where my views sit on the various lines of misery anymore.
It's simple, though: They've fallen to the same thing that the US politicos did, money. Either they're getting money directly (lobbying, bribes) or indirectly (political or industry influence), for themselves or perhaps maybe, for a rare few, in the misguided belief that this will go to their constituents.
It boils down to greed, though. Screw gravity, EM, and weak/strong forces... the most powerful force on this planet is plain old greed.
So we're letting the companies who have most of our personal information rewrite the rules on how it's treated.
This is the fox guarding the hen house, and giving those entities any say into the law makes it toothless.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. What a joke -- welcome to the oligarchy kids, because we're stuck with it.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
It has always been their constituency (big business, with big banks at the top).
If you think we, the people, are their constituency, you are living in a fairy-tale.
The EU parliament is in Belgium. This is no coincidence. Belgium is the most corrupt nation on the planet, and no-one even notices or cares. It was Belgium, NOT Germany that was the responsible for the worst West European created Holocaust of the 20th Century- the genocide in the Congo. Unluckily, the victims had a 'black' skin, so supporters of Israel have no problem telling us this Holocaust doesn't matter, and that Belgium is a 'great' nation.
The EU parliament is about unaccountability, boosted by the fact that most EU politicians are far away from their electors, and participate in actions that barely receive any coverage in the home press. The perks, salaries, expenses and pensions paid to EU politicians are the best on the planet. And even if an EU politician can't resist crudely grabbing more cash via illegal means, the penalties for malfeasance are minor if applied at all.
The EU was the brain-child of Hitler's puppet masters- a 'United States of Europe' with a greater Germany at the head (you do know the so-called Holy Roman Empire- the continuance of Ancient Rome- was 'Germanic' for much of its significant later period). Britain was supposed to be semi-pseudo independent (in the eyes of its idiot population) and France was supposed to soak up the financial benefits.
The EU allows, by law, for unlimited immigration, allowing 'difficult' national populations (like in France and Britain) to be swamped by socially destructive outsiders from the EU equivalent of 3rd World nations. Massive increases in crime rates and massive pressure on the social infrastructure of the target nation allows the election of 'extremist' politicians (the ultra-right wing LibCon alliance in the UK for instance) who push through police-state policies designed to suppress political movements arising from the bottom-up. Any protestor in the UK, for instance, can have their home raided and all their electrical goods confiscated. A conviction in court is unlikely, but that isn't the purpose of the police boot in the face.
It should be noted that the EU parliament ONLY has power when doing the bidding of the rulers of the UK, France, Italy and Germany. If it runs contrary to these wishes in some way, it is over-ruled by ministers from these nations. It is nothing more than the same trick you see with the United Nations- the UN being nothing but a crime syndicate for the China-France-UK-Russia-USA mafia families. The UN actually cheers war crimes, so long as the criminal party has the explicit support of at least one of these 'families', particularly of course the USA.
So the EU parliament caves in to nothing. That concept doesn't even make sense. When the EU 'passes' evil laws, this is a direct consequence of the wishes of the rulers of Europe- people like Tony Blair whose puppets current infest Westminster.
Time and burn them at the stake.