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EU Privacy Watchdogs Seek Assurances on US Data Transfer Pact (reuters.com)
European Union data privacy watchdogs will seek assurances from U.S. authorities that a move by U.S. President Donald Trump to crack down on illegal immigration will not undermine a transatlantic pact protecting the privacy of Europeans' data. From a report: European concerns have been raised by an executive order signed by Trump on Jan. 25 aiming to toughen enforcement of U.S. immigration law. The order directs U.S. agencies to "exclude persons who are not United States citizens or lawful permanent residents from the protections of the Privacy Act regarding personally identifiable information." The exemption of foreigners from the U.S. law governing how federal agencies collect and use information about people has stoked worries across the Atlantic about the new administration's approach to privacy and its impact on cross-border data flows.
If the law says these people are included, the President does not have the legal authority to exclude them. As the Executive, his job is to execute the law. Executive orders to exclude execution of the law in specific cases is legislating from the Executive, which is a breach of Presidential power.
On the other hand, if the law currently specifies US Citizens and Permanent Residents and does not specifically exclude others, the Executive is within his discretion to incorporate all lawful visitors to the US in the protections put forth. That is up for debate; however, in the absence of circumstances activating any law requiring the specific action, the Executive can order those protections extended by reasoning that nothing has provided the Executive branch the power or responsibility to carry out those specific actions against which the law protects. The Judiciary has the final say, and typically gives standing to those who are targets of action or loss by lack of action.
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Because prior assurrances from U.S. officials, whether to foreign governments (Germany and spying on their Chancellor) or their own citizens, have turned out to be so trustworthy. Give me a break. E.U. officials should assume when it comes to privacy related commitments like this, they cannot trust anything the U.S. government says.
If the executive order invalidates freshly wrought privacy/data protection agreements with the US, and given the recent ruling versus Google, EU companies will no longer find it legal to store customers data on US based multinational clouds. Shooting US tech companies in the foot, but then Trump didnt like them anyway?
Now they have the balls to bring up privacy issues?
Where were all those cojones hiding for the last decade as we screamed about privacy violations and got no where.
If Trump does nothing more than force the rest of the world to open their eyes and stand up to the US there should be a statue the size of lady liberty made in his honor.
In order for the transatlantic protection pact to be undermined, it first has to actually protect anything. Since it is a placebo pact, it doesn't actually protect anything, it cannot be undermined.
We should thank our dear European leaders for their foresight which allowed them to engage in such an incorruptible treaty.
NO!
Just NO!
Go away! Now! NO!
President can't exclude sections of a law just to suit his own ideals. Excluding any category of people from privacy laws is immoral and should be unconstitutional. All men are created equal... unless you were born in another country? Our forefathers would be furious.
Blindly sending phone and internet logs, banking and income records, criminal records, travel and commuting records to the USA isn't so clever now, is it? If they truly want to protect their citizens, they will tell the US government to fuck-off. This is why "nothing to hide" doesn't work and neither does "trust this glorious leader".
Fun fact: even though we have Data Privacy pacts with both the EU and Canada, we violate them each and every day.
According to the pacts, privacy laws that are required in the EU and Canada are also supposed to apply to all nationals from those countries while they are in the US and its territories.
But.
They're not.
We are spying on you.
We just lie that we're not.
(mind you, this is now being used the other way, so Deep State that, Golden Boy)
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
In Soviet 'Murikastan, EU data is in Trump.
And who implements the law? The President and his chosen cheerleaders. So whatever the law says, it's meaningless if he can get people loyal enough to lie for him. That's Trumps problem now, not enough people are loyal to him to hold, what would be, a dictatorship.
Laws mean little with Trump in the office.
Unless you've been in a hole the last few days, you'll have heard that multiple US governent sources have been confirming Trump teams constant contact with the Russias during the election. Flynn, Manasfort and others, in constant Russian contact. Despite lying otherwise.
Hacking is a crime, hacking to take power over a country is an act of war, and helping them hack to get the Presidency is treason.
And perhaps you recall, back in July when Manasfort lobbied the GOP on behalf of Team Trump to stop them giving "lethal weapons" to Ukraine (getting the wording changed to 'NON' lethal):
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/trump-campaign-guts-gops-anti-russia-stance-on-ukraine/2016/07/18/98adb3b0-4cf3-11e6-a7d8-13d06b37f256_story.html?utm_term=.366153802c38
So GOP were taking directions from a Putin agent on Ukraine legislation. And they changed their stance from "provide lethal weapons to Ukraine" to "provide non-lethal weapons to Ukraine" in response to an agent of Putin's lobbying on behalf of then candidate Trump.
USA cannot protect it's *own* data, because it is leaking to Putin's men via now encrypted channels. Those two spies Putin arrested just after Trump put his team into the CIA, were American spies. What's happening is treason and espionage, and the Republicans are in mental 'team red' mode, unwilling to even investigate.