Switzerland’s data protection chief said Sunday that the country needs new rules to regulate Internet services such as Google which could pose a problem to individuals’ privacy.
“I believe that Internet services and applications that could endanger personal rights must be subject to a licensing procedure,” said Hanspeter Thuer, Swiss data protection commissioner, in an interview with newspaper Sonntag.
Asked if this meant that a sort of Google-law was required, Thuer said: “Yes. A change in legislation is needed not just for Google, but for all IT applications. Everyone that offers applications on the market that could harm personal rights must be certified.”
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Let’s see: if Canada’s privacy commissioner takes on Facebook, and Europe takes on Google, then, gosh, we really don’t need any U.S. privacy czar or commissioner to protect our privacy and data. Which is just as well, since other than some admirable efforts by the FTC, what has our federal government done to protect our privacy?
This is America, right? Why are we still essentially outsourcing privacy protection?