PM out of touch with reality says EU
In other news Pot arrested for racial slur against Kettle.
Britain's Prime Minister insisted today that he had successfully put a stop to Brussels' vice president placing what one Downing Street source told The Register would be an artificial date on the rewrite of Europe's 18-year-old data protection law. David Cameron - in response to a question from Labour leader Ed Miliband - said …
It's still large, have a look:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52012PC0011:fr:NOT
119 pages, 47384 words.
Changes to such high-level documents happen all the time. I hear a big change was a hush-hush removal of something about cloud computing, which happened after a USUK delegation was seen hogging the lobby...
Apart from that, companies better have good lawyers if this is translated into national laws. Apparently sometimes it might be very unclear whether one would or would not compliant with the law.
Not following this story at all well but he is all set to hand over the nations newspapers to the yanks. As if that will stop Snowden pining away in the dark in the colds of hell either that or some Russian Hilton honey pot, with armed guards from Spezna checking in his caviar and champagne. (Can't think what Spanish delicacies he might be getting sent.)
Meanwhile the FBI and who the hell all else are about top go down on one of ours. How come our lads aren't bright enough to make it to Russia or Bolivia or wherever?
... the talk on the Mainland (no, not Britain, the other side of the Channel) is that without a unified European stance on data privacy, the EU will be in a weakened position whilst negotiating the upcoming EU/US trade agreement. They're absolutely right about that. Which is precisely why Camerloony is undermining the EU, and with it, the rights of British citizens. Again.
He is a deeply principled politician doing exactly what the voters have demanded that he do.
The fact that they are US voters and what they demanded was that Britain continue to sabotage the EU on behalf of the USA is just following every other British PM.
"The fact that they are US voters and what they demanded was that Britain continue to sabotage the EU on behalf of the USA is just following every other British PM."
Hard not to be compliant when a certain agency has a record of every piece of dirt you and you associates and your family and your friends (do politicians have them?) have been associated with or would be embarrassed by.
"The fact that they are US voters and what they demanded was that Britain continue to sabotage the EU on behalf of the USA is just following every other British PM."
This is great! You really caught me off guard with the facts, I had to laugh!
Thank you and have a nice day!
Hating American Is A Crime !
Yep, the way the suggestion sailed through parliament (the number of amendments is not as important as the substance remained largely untouched) indicates that and the recent disclosures of spying have probably pushed Germany and France into supporting it. The best Cameron can hope for would be an opt-out but even that is unlikely as it's about the single market, so even if some kind of compromise is available the courts might choose to ignore it.
Do you have to be a self-serving, imperious, two-faced spiv to want to be a politician in the first place or does the preponderance of self-serving, imperious, two-faced spivs already in politics mean that regardless of who goes in, only the most self-serving, most imperious and most two-faced spivs are able to lie, cheat, bribe, deal, betray and glad-hand their way through to a position of power?
Osmosis... if you're not a self-serving, imperious, two-faced spiv when you start out in politics, osmosis will fix that for you.
Imagine living your life surrounded by self-serving, imperious, two-faced spivs, and wonder how long you'd hold out, or how long it'd take before you threw yourself off of the nearest tall building... if you had an answer for the second of them you're not the right sort to be a politician, principled people aren't welcome.
Yep. I think it's a survival thing. I had the same experience dealing (closely) with a government agency over a number of years. Occasionally there would be someone who was genuinely helpful and actually worked to, well, just make things work. They were amazing but, unfortunately, they were either ground down or simply left - off to another job were people were rewarded for capability and commitment rather than shear intractability.
I suspect politics is similar. Seeing as important positions and portfolios are given almost solely on internal connections and 'back room deals', people who are honest and capable have no chance against someone willing to 'work the system'. So, talented, honest MPs have three options:
Have you?
It's amazing how anything that involves some effort being put into protecting privacy always brings out the "But it is bad for [my] business!"
Well, cry me a river. If it is bad for your business, you are doing something that you shouldn't be. The law is there to stop you.
It's amazing how anything that involves some effort being put into protecting privacy always brings out the "But it is bad for [my] business!"
Exactly.
My version of Godwin's Law that I use in these situations is to compare things to the slave trade. Imagine all the legitimate business that contributed to the economy that were irreparably hurt by the abolishing of slavery.
The problem is that privacy is still not considered a basic human right. It's seen as a luxury or, worse, as an unrealistic expectation. I think that is utterly wrong.
The laws haven't caught up with the modern age and we are all paying the price for that as now industries have become established that rely on removing our privacy for their revenue and so introducing such laws now threatens 'the economy'. Too bad. If you care about the quality of life and happiness of your citizens then you have to protect their privacy. It will have repercussions in the business world but the longer we wait, the bigger those repercussions will be and the harder such laws will be to pass.