Safe Harbor is kaput, now is the time for a level reset
- Summary:
- Safe Harbor has fallen. What happens next is far from clear but citizens' rights need protection. Now is the time for a level reset.
While Lauchlan talks up the commercial elements and free flow of data to 'get things done' he ignores the privacy problem that first brought this to light. From the ruling:
The United States Safe Harboor scheme enables interference, by United States public authorities, with the fundamental rights of persons.
Regardless of where you stand politically, in those few words, the court is making clear its distaste for what it sees as large scale and continuing interference in the lives of ordinary citizens. It will require a level setting of the rules and pristine wording that govern the circumstances under which EU based bodies share data back to the US.
Advocates for fairer taxation will likely campaign for rule modification that allows greater transparency across nation states. That will irritate Ireland, long considered little more than a tax haven by name if not registered as such. On the other hand, ordinary citizens and those who have to trade with the US will likely welcome a degree of clarification.
For myself, and as someone who recently decamped to the US, albeit on a temporary basis, I find the country's apparent disregard for basic human rights across geographies little short of deeply distressing.
Within weeks of arriving here and buying a phone based data plan, I discovered the IRS requiring me to prove tax residence via inquiries at my UK bank. This occurred under the provisions of the Foreign Tax Compliance Act --- something with which I was wholly unfamiliar until I received the voluminous set of documents that deal with its compliance elements. It is not so much the need for information that worries me but the aggressive manner in which it is demanded with dire consequences foretold for non-compliance, including the threat of shutting down of UK bank accounts I have legitimately held for many years.
Sledgehammer? Crack? Nut? It is wholly un-necessary yet part of the bigger US game plan.
Couple that with the fact it is difficult to find a US based tax accountant prepared to work with temporary immigrants for tax purposes and the whole thing descends into a slow motion nightmare. Thankfully, my situation is resolved but the process has been harrowing. By the way - contextualize this --- I used to be a tax accountant.
It is these kinds of interference that concern citizens who would otherwise be happy to manage their affairs appropriately. Is it therefore any surprise to find a bevy of lawyers in the US who do nothing other than try and straighten out the affairs of illegal immigrants?
Lauchlan rails against the free trade aspect, consigning the EU to a technology slow lane. I sense he is overblowing the situation. Rather, I think that in common with the many comments on the New York Times, it is time for the US government to reconsider its role as self proclaimed world peacekeeper and all that goes with that from a privacy perspective.
I also think it is time for people like Robert Scoble to shut the fuck up about the abortion of privacy in exchange for the claimed free flow of data via Facebook. What he and other loudmouths don't get is that there are numerous people on sites like Facebook who understand what they are trading and actively ensure that their personal data is at best obfuscated, and at worst falsified. It's the quiet voice of dissent that often is more powerful than any state legislation.
What next? Well ---- the EU court has made clear that the US does not have unfettered right to back door pass into EU citizen data. That's today's stand off.
For myself, I say 'thank you EU.' I have no qualms about passing data to the right people at the right time. What I object to and what is apparent under certain rulings, is that I neither have a choice nor a good way to do so without considerable angst. If that is the intention of the State then you know what? Guess the next two words.