It comes as no surprise that conversations about data protection are dominating capitals around the world. Unfortunately, those conversations are being twisted in a way that confuses the issues at hand and threatens policies like the EU-US Safe Harbor Agreement that help deliver the benefits at the core of the digital economy.
This situation is the product of the collision of two related — but separate — realms of data privacy, commercial data privacy and government access to data. While nations are moving quickly to establish a policy framework for a global cloud computing network that will connect businesses and consumers to products, services, and markets around the world, this summer’s disclosures of national surveillance practices have significantly heightened user and government concerns about access to data generally. (more…)