Data privacy is undergoing a massive worldwide overhaul. Here’s what’s happening.

Picture credit: StockMonkeys.com

For the last 15 years, Europe and the United States have been been working together in perfect trans-Atlantic harmony over data privacy. That is, until a few weeks ago, when the European Court of Justice declared the Safe Harbor agreement invalid.

The agreement, signed in 2000, was designed to protect European citizens’ data when stored and processed on American soil. This ensured Europeans that the sanctity of their data would be maintained even across the pond. Over 5,000 companies have signed up since, but now Europe has decided that it doesn’t offer the kind of protection they are comfortable with. Safe Harbor is effectively dead. How did this happen?

The Snowden/Schrems Effect

The agreement has had its naysayers since inception, but the start of the end game came two years ago, when a former CIA employee leaked classified information implicating the National Security Agency of spying on American citizens, world leaders, and everybody in between.

That’s right. Edward Snowden.

Snowden’s data leak of 2013 showed that privacy on the internet, which had been debatable at best, was a total myth. What it also revealed was just how much data was being collected on all internet users, not just those within the US. It seemed like the NSA could pull up information (or enforce the law which required major cloud companies to hand over personal data to the government whenever requested) on whoever they wanted. Even if they were not American citizens.

Austrian activist Max Schrems (picture credit: Eleleleven)

This spurred Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems into action. Over the course of two years, he filed 22 complaints against Facebook in Ireland (where Facebook’s European HQ is) alleging invasion of user privacy. Facebook sent European user data to their servers in the US, and Max argued that this potentially opened up private user data to NSA snooping.

The reason he filed 22 complaints was because the Irish courts kept rejecting them. That is, until the fatal number 23. This complaint somehow escalated and ended up in the European Court of Justice, who, on October 6, 2015, declared it legitimate, effectively killing the Safe Harbor agreement. Now, both sides have up till January to thrash out a new, more robust agreement that meets with European standards and protocol.

Is TPP the Asian ‘Safe Harbor’?

There is another agreement currently being ratified by several Asian countries that also involves the United States; the Trans Pacific Partnership. While it’s still a work in progress, and the closed door nature of its discussion makes it even harder to judge, we can only analyze what’s been leaked. And it doesn’t exactly warm the heart.

As it currently stands, the TPP will block member states from preventing the transfer of personal data across borders. It will also do away with national laws requiring locally based servers in order to store data on citizens of that country.

What this means is that should the TPP be signed in its current form, it will look a lot like Safe Harbor. There will be no boundaries for data. And let’s not forget that most of the large cloud storage and service companies are based in the United States. The same country that Europe does not trust with its citizens’ data.

Online privacy is still a myth (Picture credit: Perspecsys Photos)

Cloud computing is not just the future, it’s very much the present. But data privacy laws have yet to catch up with the technology. At the end of the day, as more of us come online, we want the internet to be a safe space for all involved, wherever they might live. And while who owns what in the cloud is still unclear, we, as cyber citizens, need to be more involved in the laws that are drafted that affect our online lives.

Pacific Asia looks to be on the cusp of their own Safe Harbor Agreement. How long will this one last?

To avoid these privacy problems, LeaseWeb offers Cloud solutions globally on separate platforms per geographic region. Customer data on the European Cloud platform will remain in Europe, data on the US platforms will remain in the US, etc. Furthermore, LeaseWeb recently launched their Cloud offering in Singapore, on an Asia-Pacific cloud platform.

TIA community, what do you think? What are your concerns about personal data? How can we foster a more inclusive discussion about data privacy and protection with our governments and corporations? Drop us a comment below.

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