How do the Italian authorities/public seem to be reacting to the NSA revelations?

[zeep 3]

Hello! 

 

AIRVPN Admins/Staff,

 

How is the news of NSA dragnet being received in Italy? What is the mood of the public?

 

I see some European officials making cautious statements, usually expressing dismay that the U.S. is collecting so much data and violating the Safe Harbor agreement.

 

In the Guardian, there is a nice sampling of comments from European leadership : World leaders seek answers on US collection of communication data

 

I am curious to hear your opinions as to what these revelations may lead to in Italy and Europe. I hope to see the American security state rebuffed overseas, I just don't know if the will is there.

 

Also, will the U.S. Internet giants like Google and Microsoft, Facebook, pay any price for their complicity? Are people there talking about alternatives to these corrupt companies?

 

I connect from the U.S. and there is little hope starting to be some push back regarding this "turnkey tyranny", as Mr. Snowdon called it, can be stopped  perhaps it will be stopped here where it originates.

 

I am somewhat encouraged by the remarks I am reading from Euro leaders, but it is hard for me to tell if they are just making the noises they think the public wants to hear, or are going to do something about this situation.

 

Thanks.

[scyld 1]

Also, will the U.S. Internet giants like Google and Microsoft, Facebook, pay any price for their complicity? Are people there talking about alternatives to these corrupt companies?

 

I certainly hope so. It's become nearly impossible to believe anything that the United States government or its wealthy benefactors say. You know how concerned Google, Facebook, Apple, and the lot are about privacy? The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Reddit, and other privacy-conscious organizations have formed a coalition to demand that the US come clean about PRISM, and not a single one of the companies on the leaked PRISM slides has joined it.

 

Evidently, they're perfectly content to hand out customer records without a second thought. It's disgraceful. I would love to see Europe develop alternatives that practice responsible stewardship of personal information. There are plenty of open source alternatives to proprietary services that could serve as a base to build on

[pj 72]

Hi,

 

background: the PRISM "s* storm" arrives exactly in the middle of a ruthless battle on the ongoing deep reform of the EU data protection legal framework.

European Commission statement on "US Internet surveillance of EU citizens" during the Strasbourg plenary session:
http://edri.org/files/com_prism_revised.pdf

PRISM explains the wider lobbying issues surrounding EU data protection reform:
http://www.edri.org/prism

The big (rhetoric) question, unfortunately "as usual", is why EU policy makers appear so unwilling and weak to protect EU internal market and EU citizens against USA interests (disclaimer: I have cooperated with EDRi multiple times years ago).

From Italy, I would like to underline some interesting statements from Mr. Soro, Garante Privacy (let's say Italy Data Protection and Privacy Commissioner/Supervisor). Mr. Soro invites the EU not to cave in on data protection, claims that there are "unacceptable regulatory asymmetries" (with reference to EU companies which must respect extremely higher data protection levels than USA companies) and stresses the overwhelming difficulty for any data protection authority to effectively protect citizens when they are willing to barter their personal data for a free service. Last but not least, Mr. Soro announces a new general provision to show appropriate regulatory guidelines to enhance data protection for citizens using services of "Internet giants".

http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2013/06/11/privacy-soro-presto-provvedimento-su-intercettazioni-stop-a-strapotere-colossi-web/622448/

 

Kind regards

pj

[Staff 9973]

 

Hi,

 

background: the PRISM "s* storm" arrives exactly in the middle of a ruthless battle on the ongoing deep reform of the EU data protection legal framework.

 

Hi,

it seems an important link is missing, here it is:

http://lobbyplag.eu/map

 

Kind regards

[Ace3342 0]

Rather than from an Italian perspective, it's better to consider it from the EU one:

 

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/515956/companies-complying-with-nsas-prism-may-face-eu-lawsuits/

 

https://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9239997/Europe_demands_Prism_answers_from_U.S._AG_Holder?taxonomyId=17

[zeep 3]

 

Also, will the U.S. Internet giants like Google and Microsoft, Facebook, pay any price for their complicity? Are people there talking about alternatives to these corrupt companies?

 

I certainly hope so. It's become nearly impossible to believe anything that the United States government or its wealthy benefactors say.

Exactly so. Every politician, from the president on down, is bought and paid for one way or another.

Evidently, they're perfectly content to hand out customer records without a second thought. It's disgraceful. I would love to see Europe develop alternatives that practice responsible stewardship of personal information. There are plenty of open source alternatives to proprietary services that could serve as a base to build on

This is what I would like to see as well. Europe could set a new world standard.

[zeep 3]

Hi,

 

background: the PRISM "s* storm" arrives exactly in the middle of a ruthless battle on the ongoing deep reform of the EU data protection legal framework.

 

European Commission statement on "US Internet surveillance of EU citizens" during the Strasbourg plenary session:

http://edri.org/files/com_prism_revised.pdf

 

PRISM explains the wider lobbying issues surrounding EU data protection reform:

http://www.edri.org/prism

 

The big (rhetoric) question, unfortunately "as usual", is why EU policy makers appear so unwilling and weak to protect EU internal market and EU citizens against USA interests (disclaimer: I have cooperated with EDRi multiple times years ago).

 

From Italy, I would like to underline some interesting statements from Mr. Soro, Garante Privacy (let's say Italy Data Protection and Privacy Commissioner/Supervisor). Mr. Soro invites the EU not to cave in on data protection, claims that there are "unacceptable regulatory asymmetries" (with reference to EU companies which must respect extremely higher data protection levels than USA companies) and stresses the overwhelming difficulty for any data protection authority to effectively protect citizens when they are willing to barter their personal data for a free service. Last but not least, Mr. Soro announces a new general provision to show appropriate regulatory guidelines to enhance data protection for citizens using services of "Internet giants".

http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2013/06/11/privacy-soro-presto-provvedimento-su-intercettazioni-stop-a-strapotere-colossi-web/622448/

 

Kind regards

pj

Very informative, thank you for the reply. Let us hope that Mr. Soro prevails.