Germany’s Merkel Calls For Better EU Data Protection Laws

Despite accusations by Edward Snowden that the NSA and German Intelligence authorities are “in bed together” Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for better data protection laws in the EU according to the BBC. Angela Merkel says she wants German companies to publicly disclose who they are giving data to. This comes after PRISM has revealed several huge transnational internet companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft and so on are all secretly working with the NSA sharing data. Since they are transnational companies the implications of their data sharing has European consequences.

Merkel believes the EU needs unified rules on data protection so that all companies know what they have to comply to and rule breakers can be punished. At the very least we may see laws in Germany that require all foreign companies operating in Germany to meet German privacy and data protection standards. At EU level this kind of unifying legislation could be troublesome to pass as it would require broad agreement across the entire EU, something that is very often difficult to achieve.

“I expect a clear commitment from the US government that in future they will stick to German law…We have a great data protection law. But if Facebook is registered in Ireland, then Irish law is valid, and therefore we need unified European rules” said Angela Merkel.

Image courtesy of topnews.net.nz