In Italy it was decided and approved in and by the elected parliament they needed a different government than the one led by Berlusconi.
Of course the rest of Europe put a lot of pressure on the Italians to get this change of government but it was and still is still 100% in the power of the parliament to agree with the new governments policies or ultimately send it home.
The Greek situation is from a democratic point of view not much different, parliament can send their government packing at any moment it no longer agrees with the policies proposed.
Since last year the EU has become closer to the electorate now the EU parliament can veto policies put forward by the commission. These EU commission policies don't fall from the sky, they are the result of lengthy deliberations between the governments of the member states who also have to answer to their parliaments at home.
So when you, like me, are not happy with the signing of the ACTA agreement you should also contact your local politicians, not just the MEP's.
On the one hand you can in many jurisdictions legally shoot (take the life of) someone that trespasses your land/ house or car and on the other hand you can be locked up for modifying your own paid for appliance.
While the outside world has for many years thought the USofA was the most materialistic nation on earth...
For someone from a country with a professional legal system all these stories about a bunch of amateurs 'applying' the law are hair raising.
How the hell are things not skewed when the jurors are told (to pretend) to live in an era two centuries ago yet the presiding judge can take part in any discussion or read any paper he wishes?
In Europe there is the principle of the chain of responsibility, meaning the company in charge is fully responsible for whatever his personnel or (sub)contractors do.
It's exactly that company that gets in court and fined, of course depending on the contracts in place they can try to reclaim the damages with the subcontractor where the actual breach occurred.
In Europe laws are applicable to any entity, private person, commercial company or government agency.
Even when explicit exemptions are made like for the police or armed forces there will still be some oversight as to them staying within their legal borders.
Yes there have been cases where government (controlled) agencies had to pay fines, it might look like bookkeeping but it's rather bad for the career of the civil servant in charge.
This applies to companies with more than 250 employees, I wouldn't call them small.
A quick scan does not seem to forbid the outsourcing of this function meaning specialist companies will be available to manage oversee your privacy compliance.
Important is the rule this Privacy Officer needs to be totally independent of the management.
The easiest and for me obvious way for any company to lower the amount of effort controlling this privacy sensitive data is to only keep the absolute minimum of it.
Except in most of Europe a EULA has little to no standing in a court of law.
They're a bit like the disclaimers you see at the bottom of some companies E-mails, a waste of bandwidth.
You have a good point about the written civil law system in most parts of Europe, the main exception is the UK where civil law is made in the courts but luckily the judges are appointed and have so far been reasonably immune to lobbyists.
Indeed, I went voting and it's also my government that runs our defences.
Even when my preferred party is not in the government my voice is still spoken by the opposition.
Those that did not go voting share the same responsibility, after all would they have gone voting there might have been a different government...
You are an angry man and I'm glad not to be your neighbour.
The governement is us, it's ours. What the governement spends is ours and it stays ours because it is spend on us.
The concept of common resposibility seems to freighten you but one day you might need it...
What I presently see here in Europe is towns building the physical fibre infrastructure and then making it available to private companies. The towns usually get into a contract with a cable or network builder to set up the hardware.
Once build you can select TV, telephone and internet services from one of several ISP's.
I know a senior pilot who regularly had to travel to the US for training purposes on US build aircraft.
Every single time he was stopped and harrassed long enough to miss his connecting flight because he was a political refugee originally from the middle east.
He got so fed up that he's now only flying EU build aircraft so he can train outside of the US.
His son, also a pilot, who was born in The Netherlands had the same problem and adopted the same solution.
If you count the potholes in a typical US-American road as 'replacing the road' you could be right:)
But when you consider the cost of the frequent power failures typical in the US and hardly known in the parts of Europe where power cables are buried you get a different cost calculation.
Plus the value of your property goes up when there are no ugly utility poles.
The ground is of the owner, the air of us all.
Or maybe it is just thoughtless tradition to deface whole neighborhoods and towns with ugly utility poles.
Slashdot Mirror
Of course the rest of Europe put a lot of pressure on the Italians to get this change of government but it was and still is still 100% in the power of the parliament to agree with the new governments policies or ultimately send it home.
The Greek situation is from a democratic point of view not much different, parliament can send their government packing at any moment it no longer agrees with the policies proposed.
Since last year the EU has become closer to the electorate now the EU parliament can veto policies put forward by the commission. These EU commission policies don't fall from the sky, they are the result of lengthy deliberations between the governments of the member states who also have to answer to their parliaments at home.
So when you, like me, are not happy with the signing of the ACTA agreement you should also contact your local politicians, not just the MEP's.
What does this personal action of a politician have to do with an economic crisis?
While the outside world has for many years thought the USofA was the most materialistic nation on earth...
A police officer thus getting some extra money can no longer be considered impartial towards those who pay.
How the hell are things not skewed when the jurors are told (to pretend) to live in an era two centuries ago yet the presiding judge can take part in any discussion or read any paper he wishes?
In Europe they would be put away for such gross corruption.
And yes the money goes in our government coffers so next year we need not pay as much tax.
It's exactly that company that gets in court and fined, of course depending on the contracts in place they can try to reclaim the damages with the subcontractor where the actual breach occurred.
Even when explicit exemptions are made like for the police or armed forces there will still be some oversight as to them staying within their legal borders.
Yes there have been cases where government (controlled) agencies had to pay fines, it might look like bookkeeping but it's rather bad for the career of the civil servant in charge.
A quick scan does not seem to forbid the outsourcing of this function meaning specialist companies will be available to manage oversee your privacy compliance.
Important is the rule this Privacy Officer needs to be totally independent of the management.
The easiest and for me obvious way for any company to lower the amount of effort controlling this privacy sensitive data is to only keep the absolute minimum of it.
Except in most of Europe a EULA has little to no standing in a court of law.
They're a bit like the disclaimers you see at the bottom of some companies E-mails, a waste of bandwidth.
You have a good point about the written civil law system in most parts of Europe, the main exception is the UK where civil law is made in the courts but luckily the judges are appointed and have so far been reasonably immune to lobbyists.
Claiming to be unaware of legislation is in a court no defence what so ever.
Indeed, I went voting and it's also my government that runs our defences.
Even when my preferred party is not in the government my voice is still spoken by the opposition.
Those that did not go voting share the same responsibility, after all would they have gone voting there might have been a different government...
The governement is us, it's ours. What the governement spends is ours and it stays ours because it is spend on us.
The concept of common resposibility seems to freighten you but one day you might need it...
What I presently see here in Europe is towns building the physical fibre infrastructure and then making it available to private companies. The towns usually get into a contract with a cable or network builder to set up the hardware.
Once build you can select TV, telephone and internet services from one of several ISP's.
But no-one says it has to be supplied for free.
A nice suggestion but I doubt the ISS would, in it's present configuration, withstand the needed acceleration to leave Earth Orbit.
Exactly my thoughts, this part of the summary is plain flamebait.
but his father Ron I'd like to see as the next President.
Europe is with you!
It would instantaneously solve all issues about our economic and financial credibility :)
I know a senior pilot who regularly had to travel to the US for training purposes on US build aircraft.
Every single time he was stopped and harrassed long enough to miss his connecting flight because he was a political refugee originally from the middle east.
He got so fed up that he's now only flying EU build aircraft so he can train outside of the US.
His son, also a pilot, who was born in The Netherlands had the same problem and adopted the same solution.
But when you consider the cost of the frequent power failures typical in the US and hardly known in the parts of Europe where power cables are buried you get a different cost calculation.
Plus the value of your property goes up when there are no ugly utility poles.
The ground is of the owner, the air of us all.
Or maybe it is just thoughtless tradition to deface whole neighborhoods and towns with ugly utility poles.
Old fart ;)
At work we use some realy good 16-bit software tools, because they are essential to our business there is no reason to switch to Win7 = new tools.