As electronic privacy negotiations between the US and EU deteriorate further in acrimonious deadlock, one of Uncle Sam's own has tossed a bit of ammunition to the opposition. Privacy Policies without Privacy Protection, which finds that America's much-touted policy of self regulation does little to protect consumers' online privacy, just as the European Commission has suspected all along. The European Union and U.S. government have set March as the new deadline for reaching agreement on data privacy, a Commission spokesman said today. However, the two sides have still failed to resolve their fundamental differences over how best to ensure consumer have clear dispute settlement rights when privacy violations occur. The U.S. advocates industry self-regulation.
European nations favor legislation.
This conflict could delay the prospects for reaching an agreement to later in the year. The European Union and U.S. government have set March as the new deadline for reaching agreement on data privacy, a European Commission spokesman said today. However, the new deadline could slip as easily as the previous deadlines because the two sides have still failed to resolve their fundamental differences over self-regulation, as advocated by the U.S., and legislation, as advocated by the Europeans, as well as the need to ensure consumers have clear dispute settlement rights. The Committee will advise the FTC on information security practices employed by Web sites. The privacy watchdog group Electronic Privacy Information Center has filed a lawsuit in federal court that aims to force the National Security Agency to release sensitive documents thought to contain evidence of surveillance operations against U.S. citizens.