Respect?
. . . put pressure on the US authorities to respect EU privacy laws.
This is sad, but I don't think the current US authorities are capable of respect, at least not for others.
A delegation of MEPs is in Washington this week to put pressure on the US authorities to respect EU privacy laws. The 11-strong group from the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) is led by British Labour MEP Claude Moraes. He said the Parliament hasn’t forgotten about the National Security Agency (NSA)'s …
"do they really think a bunch of european MEP's will make any difference"
So should we (and the MEPs included) just accept US dominance and ignorance and bend over?
I don't think so. Even though it may seem hopeless, I think privacy matters. Giving in is not really an option.
It's like big corporations: Nothing changes over night. You sometimes need constant nagging of different players over extended periods of time to finally be heard.
Budgets (political and commercial) work on a "use it or lose it" principle, They WILL be spending tax payers money anyway as it's already allocated. I'd much rather see it used for their trip in the name of privacy than wasted elsewhere.
A delegation of MEPs is in Washington this week to put pressure on the US authorities to respect EU privacy laws.
Ha! That's a good one! Our so-called "gubmint" doesn't respect much of anything (ref: #47traitors) including our own privacy laws; you EU-ers expect those morons to respect yours?!? Shirley, you jest!
If the EU really wanted to protect our data; they could fund -and then open-source- a suite of comms programs to enable secure communications.
No one country could do it because there is no trust; but the EU could fairly easily...and with all the respective countries watching each other to ensure that nobody slips a hole in there, it's doable.
The only way to make sure they're not going to abuse our privacy is to make it very difficult and/or expensive for them to do so.
Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Security Council and the Department of Defense (the NSA reports up to the DoD).
If I were coming from Europe to talk about improving civil liberties, I would want to talk to these guys too.
(The bulletproof invisibility cloak with the heat-seeking dagger in the pocket is mine)
Ah, so if some US company abuses my privacy I can sue them? Do I have to attend court like a US citizen? How will the TSA treat me on arrival when I declare the reason for my visit to their fair country bearing in mind I'm not even legally in the country until I get past the TSA? Can I even afford to go in the first place?