On 23 March MEPs asked the Commission and the Council about the implications for EU citizens of a US court order obliging Twitter to hand over personal data, messages and communications of users considered to be related to WikiLeaks. What personal data protection rights do EU-based Twitter users have in such cases?
Read more on the European Parliament web site. Short answer: it sounds like everyone agreed to respect U.S. laws but to strengthen EU laws.
Dutch Liberal Sophie in ‘t Veld explained, “The US court argues that once you use Twitter, you no longer have a legitimate expectation of privacy, and that means that EU citizens no longer have any legal protection, because Twitter is US-based”. That is “a problem that must be addressed in the review of the data protection” directive, she said.
By all means, review it, but unless Twitter or another social network is actually a registered business in the EU or advertises to/pitches to EU citizens, how does the EU bring them under their directives? Or will we see court rulings out of the EU that are not enforceable here?
This is another opportunity to mention how much we need to get people together to see how we can better harmonize privacy laws and protections between the EU and US and how much we need to strengthen privacy protections here in the U.S.