Ads by TechWords

See your link here
Receive the latest technology news and information.
Computerworld Daily News (First Look and Wrap-Up)
Computerworld Blogs Newsletter
The Weekly Top 10
Cloud Computing
View all newsletters




Privacy Policy
 

Europe's Privacy Laws May Become Global Standard

Congress examines impact of foreign regulations on companies in the U.S.

March 12, 2001 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - In Congress last week, Rep. Clifford Stearns (R-Fla.), the chairman of the subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, warned that the European Union Privacy Directive will have a "potentially regressive impact on international commerce" and urged the Bush administration to make an "expedited" review of the impact of Europe's privacy rules.


Concern is growing in Congress that tough European data protection laws are on the verge of becoming the world's de facto privacy standard, with potentially costly implications for U.S. businesses.












Not Safe








The offer:

The U.S. and the European Union agreed to a safe harbor that would exempt companies from Europe’s privacy rules provided they follow voluntary rules. But only two dozen companies have signed up so far.


The threat:


In July, EU countries may begin enforcing data protection rules and threaten the export of data from Europe.



The EU Privacy Directive, which requires companies to follow a strict set of privacy rules, is becoming a worldwide regulatory model. Since it was adopted in 1995, other countries that have adopted or are working on similar rules include Argentina, Australia, Canada, Switzerland and New Zealand.


But there is a business cost to complying with these rules, said Jeff Maynard, founder and chairman of Netstore PLC, a U.K.-based application service provider that must follow the EU directive. He estimated that it will cost more than $100,000 to develop a process that lets people access their data, which is a directive requirement.


And despite Europe's efforts to harmonize privacy laws through the directive, Maynard, who also heads the European branch of the ASP Industry Consortium, said a study that his group released last week found wide divergence among international regulations. If that isn't corrected, "it will cost us money. It will slow things down," he said.


Privacy Defense


But at last week's subcommittee hearing, many defended the EU regulations.


"Data protection must be considered a fundamental human right," said Stefano Rodota, chairman of the EU committee that developed the data protection standard.


Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) said that in surveys, Americans overwhelmingly favor strong privacy rules similar to Europe's.


"I think the reason is that most of our grandparents came from your countries," he said. Markey accused the Republicans and "a large corporate sector" of blocking privacy measures.


Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Ind.), however, said U.S. traditions call for less government intrusion and added that the EU's privacy rules illustrate the "good judgment by my ancestors to leave the continent."


Jonathan Winer, an attorney at Altson and Bird LLP in Washington, said the directive "threatens national sovereignty" with the possibility of shutting down data flows between nations. "The European Union is insisting that [the privacy directive] be treated as the de facto global standard," said Winer.


But the issue for the U.S. is whether it can buck international trends on privacy.


"For U.S. citizens, I think the directive highlights that American citizens are becoming second class in the privacy world at the global level," said Joel Reidenberg, a law professor at Fordham University in New York.



Jump to comments

Legislation/Regulation

Additional Resources

WHITE PAPER
Approximately 60 percent of data migration projects overrun time or budget, while some fail completely. Download this white paper, "Enhancing Your Chance for Successful Data Migration," to learn the critical steps you need to take to execute a data migration project with minimum cost and risk to your business.
WHITE PAPER
Read the Gartner research note to learn why the TCO of a server-based computing deployment used to deliver all applications to users is around 50% lower than that of an unmanaged desktop deployment.
WHITE PAPER
Economic downturns have a tendency to accelerate emerging technologies, boost the adoption of effective solutions, and punish solutions that are not cost competitive or that are out of synch with industry trends. This IDC White Paper presents the results of an IDC survey of 330 companies in Western Europe, Asia/Pacific and the Americas that measures the receptiveness to Linux and takes into consideration changing views driven by the disruptive economic environment that businesses face today.

White Papers & Webcasts

Forrester Consulting - Optimizing Users and Applications in a Mobile World
Learn how to successfully deploy a WAN optimization solution that is specifically tuned for a mobile environment!  

Faster, Cheaper and Easier to Maintain
Can you afford not to upgrade your servers to today's advanced, energy-efficient technologies?  

Effectively Implementing Datacenter Automation
Effectively select and deploy the best datacenter automation solution today!

Aligning IT to Business: The Rising Importance of Application Delivery Networks
Application Delivery Networking (ADN) will play a vital role in helping enterprises incorporate strategic technologies to achieve business initiatives.

Mitigate Risk, Lower Costs and Improve Network Efficiency
Create a stable IP network that not only meets today's challenges, but is flexible enough to also meet future demands.