[Chapter-delegates] US exclusion of privacy protection

[John More]

Anyone who thinks they are not monitored in France or Great Britain - let alone Russia, the U.A.E., China, etc. - should have another think coming.

John More

> On Jan 26, 2017, at 11:29 AM, Eric Burger <eburger at standardstrack.com> wrote:
> 
> If anything, this should highlight the importance of monitoring laws and policies as they happen. There is absolutely NOTHING new in this announcement - it is the CURRENT law and policy of the U.S., for at least the past 11 years.
> 
> In fact, most countries, most notably in Europe, do not have the restrictions the U.S. government has on monitoring its own citizens.
> 
> 
>> On Jan 26, 2017, at 8:35 AM, Faisal Shahzad <faisal.rwp at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Dear all 
>> 
>> We must brought this issue at the highest level and must ensure the privacy of the data of the whole world in the hands of (mostly) technological companies based / registered in united states.
>> 
>> US is now taking steps which will ignite the efforts already in practice to free the INTERNET from dominant nations control.
>> 
>> Faisal 
>> Vice President ISOC 
>> Islamabad, Pakistan Chapter
>> 
>> 
>> On Thu, Jan 26, 2017 at 3:22 PM, Richard Hill <rhill at hill-a.ch> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> US President Trump has published  an Executive Order titled Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> See:
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/25/presidential-executive-order-enhancing-public-safety-interior-united
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Its section 14 reads:
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> “ Privacy Act.  Agencies shall, to the extent consistent with applicable law, ensure that their privacy policies exclude persons who are not United States citizens or lawful permanent residents from the protections of the Privacy Act regarding personally identifiable information.”
>> 
>> 
>> Taken literally, this means that the protections of the Privacy Act do not apply to a person who is legitimately travelling in the USA, for example for a business meeting.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> And it means that the protections do not apply to people who are not US citizens and who don’t reside in the  USA.  So it means that any data regarding such persons that may wind up in the USA would not be protected.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Such an approach to privacy does not appear to me to be likely to increase trust in the Internet and, in my view, constitutes a violation of the human right to privacy, even if the scope of the Privacy Act, and hence of the exclusion, is rather limited since the Privacy Act applies only to US Federal agencies, see:
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_Act_of_1974
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> But perhaps I misunderstand the situation and/or the significance of the Executive Order and/or of the Privacy Act.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Best,
>> 
>> Richard
>> 
>> 
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