Google Calls for International Privacy Standards 75
Posted
by
Zonk
from the equal-opportunity-datamining dept.
from the equal-opportunity-datamining dept.
HairyNevus writes "The Washington Post has an article detailing Google's request for international privacy standards. Google is taking this matter all the way to the U.N., arguing that a hodge-podge of privacy law unnecessarily burdens Internet-based companies while also failing to protect consumers. Although Google is currently under investigation by the EU for its privacy practices, the company claims it has been a crusader for protecting consumer privacy. Google's privacy counsel Peter Fleischer called America's privacy laws 'too complex and too much of a patchwork,' and the European Union's laws 'too bureaucratic and inflexible.' The alternative? Something closer to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's framework which 'balances very carefully information privacy with business needs and commercial interests', according to Fleischer."
Trust (Score:2, Interesting)
There have been many recent breeches of information security in government and corporate computers. (esp. banking/credit/health sectors) Does a company like Google, who's bread and butter is information, have a naturally more trustable position from the end-user's perspective? Is it possible for Google to create a firewall to protect users from all data intrusion?
Google briefly had a market cap higher than Lockheed. They represent much more than just a search engine.
Josh
Not bad for a US company (Score:0, Interesting)
B*llocks! Why don't they set their OWN rules! (Score:3, Interesting)
Irony (Score:1, Interesting)
This is as funny as "Don't be evil"! Google just spews propaganda, and techies lap it up like good little doggies. And as long as they can entertain the masses with Microsoft execs throwing chairs and phony gestures to the FOSSie MS-hater community, they can keep growing that data mine bigger, and bigger, and bigger. Oh, and let's not forget about how much help they are giving to China's efforts to suppress their citizenry!
Don't be evil... soothing words for gullible sheep!
Re:Google vs. democracy? (Score:3, Interesting)
This is obvious, and people are overreacting.
Here are the only possible scenarios:
A) International standards are made consistent with the countries that have the highest levels of privacy protection
B) International standards are made consistent with the countries that have the lowest levels of privacy protection
C) International standards are set somewhere between A & B
Now whatever answer you pick, countries are going to get screwed:
A) Low standard countries have to pay lots of money to meet the highest standards
B) Citizens of countries with high standards get the shaft as standards are lowered
C) A combination of A & B