NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Re: NYTimes on U.S. vs. Europe on Privacy and Google (and fragility)
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In message <01db01cab8a8$febd5d40$fc3817c0$@frankston.com>, Bob
Frankston <Bob19-0501@bobf.frankston.com> writes
> The NYT story does point out how easily the privacy laws can be
> abused and used cynically.
Which shows the limitations of the NYT story :( since the actual
decision related to Data Protection -- which the Italians quirkily refer
to as their privacy law :( thereby misleading a lot of journalists.
It should be noted that Data Protection and privacy (either the EU type
of privacy such as it is, or the US formulations), although related, are
not the same thing at all.
In fact the charge that was brought was rather specifically Italian; for
having infringed s167 of the Italian Data Protection Act by gaining
profit (Adwords revenue) from non-authorized personal data handling.
This isn't the end of the story. There will doubtless be an appeal
(and/or references to EU level courts) since it was expected that the
"hosting" provisions of the eCommerce Directive would have overridden
the earlier Data Protection provisions... although it may not be a
matter of law per se, since the judge seems to have decided on the facts
before him that Google wasn't acting an intermediary, but the actual
content provider.
IANAL ... but I've been reading some informed Italian commentaries.
- --
Dr Richard Clayton <richard.clayton@cl.cam.ac.uk>
tel: 01223 763570, mobile: 07887 794090
Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge, CB3 0FD
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