Shhh! I don’t want others to know about me.
European regulators are trying to pass legislation that would more stringently protect the privacy of citizens by restricting what companies can do with data. According to this New York Times article, companies from Silicon Valley (and perhaps other US companies) are trying to block the legislation – as it goes much further than U.S. government policies.
One would guess that it’s much easier to deal witht the legislation if both sides of the Atlantic had similar rules – and, of course, those companies who are trying to push the envelope on reducing what’s considered private want a more relaxed set of standards.
There’s another solution: push the U.S. federal government to follow suit with European privacy standards.