back to article Trump signs 'no privacy for non-Americans' order – what does that mean for rest of us?

US President Donald Trump may have undermined a critical data sharing agreement between the United States and Europe that internet giants rely on to do business overseas. In an executive order focused on illegal immigrants that was signed by the president this week, one section specifically noted that privacy protections would …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Trump has become more deranged

    We should all prepare for a third world war soon.

    1. cyberdemon Silver badge
      Mushroom

      Re: Trump has become more deranged

      How exactly does one 'prepare' for a third world war? :(

      1. Dan 55 Silver badge
        Mushroom

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        Duck and cover.

        1. TRT Silver badge

          Re: Trump has become more deranged

          @Dan 55. Is that a Donald Duck and cover?

        2. FozzyBear
          Joke

          Re: Trump has become more deranged

          I am waiting for the day when someone will actually start shooting at the trump, for no other reason other than so I can hear the Secret service yell Donald DUCK!

        3. This post has been deleted by its author

        4. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

          Re: preparing for WW III / duck and cover

          We went over all that in the 1980ies when we looked back at the 1950ies and 1960ies...

          Film tip for the weekend: The Atomic Café.

          Link to film.

          Writeup on Jimbopedia.

      2. find users who cut cat tail

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        > How exactly does one 'prepare' for a third world war?

        By accepting your mortality and making peace with yourself. Or building an underground bunker in New Zealand. Kind of depends on your social class...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Trump has become more deranged

          "... Kind of depends on your social class..."

          And ever so slightly on the size of your Bank Balance, as underground Bunkers are not cheap. :)

          Even dearer if you want one that works through the aftermath and enables you to 'start' the new world with minimal DNA damage.

          See 'Dr Strangelove' for fully worked out plans :) :)

          BTW:

          Once more Trump demonstrates he is the 'Bestest there has ever been'' by managing to take the 'deranged' scale to 11 when everyone else can only manage 10 :)

          Late News Investment tip: Buy your Put Options in Dollar-Peso Futures ...... now!!! :)

          1. Stoneshop
            Coat

            Re: Trump has become more deranged

            Buy your Put Options

            First read that as Buy your Putin Options

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Trump has become more deranged

            Merkel took it close to 20.

            Anyways, good, protect us, fuck the rest of you guys. :P

      3. Christoph

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        "How exactly does one 'prepare' for a third world war?"

        If you are caught outside sit down in a clear space away from trees and walls. Loosen all tight clothing. Cover your head with your arms. When you see the flash bend down, put your head between your legs, and kiss your arse goodbye.

        1. Commswonk

          Re: Trump has become more deranged

          ...put your head between your legs, and kiss your arse goodbye.

          Are you by any chance another Fascinating Aida fan?

          1. Christoph

            Re: Trump has become more deranged

            "Are you by any chance another Fascinating Aida fan?"

            Definitely a Fascinating Aïda fan, but that joke was being told in the 60s long before FA.

            1. staringatclouds

              Re: Trump has become more deranged

              Before that, I remember my dad telling me a story his dad told him, which was something like

              The boy stood on the burning deck

              The bombs around did fly

              He stuck his head between his legs

              And kissed his arse goodbye

              So that's turn of the 20th century, probably even earlier than that

              I still can't get used to this being the 21st century where's my bloody flying car & job on the moon ? Why have I got to worry about the bloody cold war restarting again ? Why did America elect lord bloody Snapcase ? Bah humbug ! ... mutter.... mumble... grump....

      4. mr. deadlift

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        how many Fallout games have you played? Be honest.

      5. This post has been deleted by its author

      6. bombastic bob Silver badge
        Joke

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        "How exactly does one 'prepare' for a third world war?"

        buy some tin foil, make hats

      7. Alistair
        Coat

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        @cyberdemon

        Well, I've heard that you need chicks and cars to go with it.

      8. Rattus Rattus

        Re: "How exactly does one 'prepare' for a third world war?"

        As an Australian, apparently I just have to weld a few spikes to my car and buy half a leather jacket.

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

      9. Mutton Jeff

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        We're Donald Ducked, for sure.

      10. Dramoth

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        Put your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye!

        1. Les Matthew

          Re: Trump has become more deranged

          I should read all the comments before posting, though mine is a UK translation. :)

          1. Triggerfish

            Re: Trump has become more deranged

            Surely someone must be arranging a nice trip through Dallas in an open topped car soon.

      11. GruntyMcPugh Silver badge

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        I guess you are in your 20s, 30s. maybe? Because many people older (like me, approaching 50) considered this exact thing, when there were tensions with the USSR. I had the added tension of living on an RAF base that would have been a first wave target for several years of this period.

        These days though, any common or garden 'Zombie Apocalypse Survival Plan' will suffice, gather resources, and get away from centres of population as quickly as possible. Additionally you might want to live in hole.

        Or you could just be calm, go outside, and wait for the wind to blow.

        1. Steve K

          Re: Trump has become more deranged

          Absolutely - as a 15/16 year-old in 1983/84 this tension was palpable - and a lot of TV drama covered this too.

          "When the Wind Blows" by Raymond Briggs is a cartoon book, but that does not diminish its content .

          1. ridley

            Re: Trump has become more deranged

            https://youtu.be/L9RrTzcDcw0

            Or if you get a chance watch the channel 4 doc "1983 The Brink of Apocalypse"

            Scary stuff

        2. Pen-y-gors

          Re: Trump has become more deranged

          @ GruntyMcPugh

          I had the added tension of living on an RAF base that would have been a first wave target for several years of this period.

          Ditto. Early 1970s, living on a Vulcan base. I remember the feeling when the sirens went off at 2am and sound of Papa's boots running down the stairs, and not knowing if it's another surprise exercise or the real thing. Truly terrifying. I don't want today's kids to live through that.

          1. TRT Silver badge

            Re: Trump has become more deranged

            @Pen-y-gors. My father machined fuel diverter valves for the Olympus engines. I too remember the cold war fear. Protect & Survive films give me the willies proper even today. And Threads - that was a cheery outing, not. I'm glad my children will have the experience of Trump and ISIS to look back on and recall the feartime much as I look back now and can recall the cold war and the IRA. Sort of.

          2. The First Dave
            Mushroom

            Re: Trump has become more deranged

            @Pen-y-gors

            Today's kids probably _won't_ live through it ...

        3. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

          Re: Trump has become more deranged

          "I had the added tension of living on an RAF base that would have been a first wave target for several years of this period."

          Could have been worse: High Wycombe sandwiched between the RAF & US command posts.

          1. IsJustabloke
            Mushroom

            Re: Trump has become more deranged

            I grew up in west London....

            There was literally no where I could go that wouldn't have received it's own atomic pressie.... east of me... Northwood / High wycombe, west of me central London, south west of me Heathrow...

            I read the "how to build a shelter under your stairs" leaflet and just laughed at the absurdity of it.

            1. smudge
              Mushroom

              Re: Trump has become more deranged

              I grew up in west London....

              There was literally no where I could go that wouldn't have received it's own atomic pressie.... east of me... Northwood / High wycombe, west of me central London, south west of me Heathrow...

              And if that wasn't bad enough, your sense of direction is completely fubar'd too.

            2. Chris G

              Re: Trump has become more deranged

              From what I remember back in the cold war days, there are enough strategic targets in the SouthEast of England to warrant it being vapourised. There would be multiple MRVs targetting London and with redundancy allowing for misses or interceptions the rest of the SouthEast would go with it. Where I live my main concern would be fallout, we have far too many Russians living here and owning holiday homes and yachts, plus Spain is not much of a threat to anyone, too chilled out.

          2. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge
            Mushroom

            Re: Trump has become more deranged

            Could have been worse: High Wycombe sandwiched between the RAF & US command posts.

            Or even worse - Swindon. Sandwiched between RAF Lynham[1] and RAF Fairford. With the added bonus of it being, well, Swindon. Mind you, in parts of this fine town, the difference between before and after being nuked might be hard to spot. Possibly, after might be an improvement since everything will have a nice pretty glow.

            [1] Yes, yes. I know it's no longer a functioning RAF air base but I doubt whether the Russians have bothered to retarget their missiles. And anyway, with major parts of the British Army based in Wiltshire I suspect that most of the county would be nuked back to the Stone Age[2].

            [2] Which might be an advance for some parts. Especially Glastonbury. From the Stoned Age to the Stone Age..

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Trump has become more deranged

              I grew up in West Cornwall and thought I was well out of the way if the bomb dropped; but then a leaked target map appeared in the papers and the Soviets were going to take out Cauldrose, St Mawgan, the satellite station at Goonhilly, the cables at Porthcurno, the old chemical weapons site at Nancekuke and the MI6 listening station near Bude then scatter a few other warheads over Cornwall to make sure it was extra glowy all over.

              So it was nice of them to share.

        4. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: First wave target

          Best place to be. In the aftermath, the living will envy the dead.

      12. DwarfPants

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        "How exactly does one 'prepare' for a third world war? :("

        A) Make peace with your maker

        B) Spend quality time with family and loved ones

        C) Do the things you have always wanted to do

        D) Invest in hedonistic pleasures (I have just looked up hedonistic to make sure I was spelling it correctly and It appears I have just written : Invest in investing in pleasures pleasures. Probably should have just written hedonism)

        Pick any combination that appeals to you and does not make anyone else preparation harder - be nice to one another.

        1. Spaceman9

          Re: Trump has become more deranged

          OIW: Be excellent to each other, and party on dude!

      13. Les Matthew
        Mushroom

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        You put your head between your legs and kiss your arse goodbye.

      14. MR J

        Prepare For Third WW

        Acquire the Following.

        Salted Pork.

        Satellite Phone.

        Wind-Up usb charger + Tablet + MP4 Pron.

        Moar Salted Pork.

        Shovel.

        Potassium Iodine Tablets.

        Spare Shovel.

        Can Opener.

        Knife or Scissors.

        Fire Starting Kit.

        A copy of Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Database_download

        Some Tinsel.

        500,000 gallons of water.

        yet more Salted Pork.

        Salt.

        Pepper.

        Tabasco Sauce.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Prepare For Third WW

          HOW could you forget the curry sauce ?

        2. Tom_

          Re: Prepare For Third WW

          Don't worry about the satellite phone. The satellites will all be tagetted too.

        3. eldakka

          Re: Prepare For Third WW

          Good list except for one paperweight: Satellite Phone

          If sat phones still work, if there are still any functioning satellites let alone commercial communications satellites, it's not a WW3 scenario, it's just a demonstration.

          You'd be much better off replacing the sat phone with shortwave radio.

        4. willi0000000
          Coat

          Re: Prepare For Third WW

          you are obviously not a true prepper . . . follows: checklist for simple airport drop-off

          - gun

          - extra ammo for gun

          - spare gun (if gun fails)

          - extra ammo for spare gun

          - knife, sheath type

          - knife, folding

          - whetstone (in case knives dull)

          - flashlight

          - spare batteries for flashlight

          - lighter and candle (if flashlight fails)

          - matches (if lighter fails)

          - flint and steel (in case matches get wet)

          - cell phone

          - spare batteries for cell phone

          - walkie-talkie (if cell phone fails)

          - spare batteries for walkie-talkie

          - car keys

          - spare car keys

          - remote starter (in case car wired to blow up)

          - spare car

          - GPS

          - compass

          - first aid kit

          - Bactine™

          - cash

          - small pieces of gold (if economy crashes)

          - pair dry socks

          - spare boot laces

          - sewing kit

          - toilet paper

          - MREs (sufficient for two weeks)

          - entrenching tool

          - canoe

          - spare paddles for canoe

          - tent

          - spare tent stakes

          - tent repair kit

          - canteen

          - water purification tablets

          - sleeping bag

          - zip-tie handcuffs (may have to take prisoners)

          - NRA lifetime membership card

          ...

          - pocket copy of Constitution

          - Soverign Citizen ID

          - Social Security Disability ID

          - Medicaid ID

          [ list for WWIII similar but with moar gunz!!!!! ]

          1. Chris G

            Re: Prepare For Third WW

            @willi0000000 so you are a minimalist then?

            Not enough guns; Assault rifle with 40mm grenade launcher mounted, folding stock sawn off 12 bore for house clearing, plus mags for rifle and bandolier for 12 bore, large calibre semi auto extended mag and spares, Glock of choice + mags, back up .32 or .22 in ankle holster.

            Not enough knives; primary large enough to chop trees or zombie heads, good hunting/combat knife, pocket folder flipper or auto, backup pocket knife.

            Assuault vest to protect you and to help carry mags and other useful items.

            Everything should be wrapped in para cord, you can never have enough plus if you lose your guns the core can be used as bow string when you have used your knives to make a bow.

            Fire lighting not bad but you missed the pocket/bellybutton lint for starting fires in damp conditions, an added aid here would be a small jar of home made napalm, lots of recipes on the web (plus free inclusion on a list).

            Oh and forget the cash and gold, ammunition is the best currency there is, especially if it is in a gun.

            There are a few more things you should have but without a pack mule it becomes tiresome to carry.

            NB: This is the requirement for you first shopping mall or supermarket raid after TEOTWAWK (For non preppers The End Of The World As We Know It)

      15. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        Start digging...

        But don't put the door against the wall and bags at the end... that's just silly...

        1. kryptonaut

          Re: Trump has become more deranged

          Protect and Survive

          http://www.atomica.co.uk/main.htm

      16. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        In the words of "Protect and Survive" by the Dubliners...

        "Well the government's made a document

        To help prevent embarrassment

        And in the event of an accident

        Catching us with our trousers down

        It's no use to you when you're dead

        Nor even when alive

        And the name of this piece of paper is

        Protect and survive

        So when the nukes come raining down

        It's great to be alive, well

        World War Three can be such fun

        If you protect and survive

        Protect and survive

        Well a nuclear strike can be recognised

        It would stand out in a crowd

        There's a flash, then a bang, then a blast of heat

        Then a bloody great mushroom cloud

        So if you happen to see one at the end of your street

        Would you please pick up the telephone

        And inform your local police

        So when the nukes come raining down

        It's great to be alive, well

        World War Three can be such fun

        If you protect and survive

        Protect and survive

        Put sticky tape on your windows

        Block your ears and close your eyes

        But it won't make a blind bit of difference

        You won't have to watch yourself fry

        If you find yourself in the target zone

        And you haven't got a shelter

        Take a spade into the garden

        And dig like merry hell, sir

        So when the nukes come raining down

        It's great to be alive, well

        World War Three can be such fun

        If you protect and survive

        Protect and survive

        They've got strategic ICBM's

        Both theatre and tactical

        With independently targeted

        Multiple re-entry vehicles

        Backfire bombers, Polaris sub's, cruise missiles

        And the boys who hang around the Pentagon

        Can't wait to use these toys

        So when the nukes come raining down

        It's great to be alive, well

        World War Three can be such fun

        If you protect and survive

        Protect and survive

        When Armageddon gets underway

        And the rockets come pouring down

        All the bloody politicians who started it

        Will scuttle off underground

        And when they finally re-emerge

        With no life to be found

        They can administrate the rubble

        And they can order each other around

        So when the nukes come raining down

        It's great to be alive, well

        World War Three can be such fun

        If you protect and survive

        Protect and survive

        For they give us a four-minute warning

        When the rockets are on their way

        To give us time to panic and Christians time to pray

        So when you hear the siren's going

        Place your head between your thighs

        Whilst maintaining this posture

        You can make a final gesture

        And with a little muscular pressure

        You can kiss your arse goodbye

        So when the nukes come raining down

        It's great to be alive, well

        World War Three can be such fun

        If you protect and survive

        Protect and survive

        Protect and..."

      17. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        Sit next to the window, at least it'll be quick :-(

      18. Mooseman Silver badge

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        "How exactly does one 'prepare' for a third world war? :("

        Easy. Bend over, grasp ankles firmly, place head between legs and kiss your ass goodbye.

      19. FuzzyWuzzys

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        "How exactly does one 'prepare' for a third world war? :("

        Well I've saved 2 years worth of "caps" off my beer bottles sadly not NukaCola but I'm minted come the glorious day! "War. War never changes."

      20. Gnomalarta
        Headmaster

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        A large brown paper bag.

        1. TRT Silver badge

          Re: A large brown paper bag.

          Placed over the head or stuffed with used notes?

      21. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        Have the water already boiling when the four minute warning goes off so your egg will be perfectly cooked?

      22. Ilsa Loving

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        > How exactly does one 'prepare' for a third world war? :(

        I've been playing Fallout for practise. Now where's that damned adhesive...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Trump has become more deranged

      Has anything changed other than dispensing with the pretense of privacy from the US security services? Didn't Snowden dispel this myth years ago?

      1. BillG

        So, Nothing Has Changed?

        In an executive order focused on illegal immigrants that was signed by the president this week, one section specifically noted that privacy protections would not be extended past US citizens or permanent residents in America.

        Wasn't this overtly Obama's position, too?

      2. Mark Simon

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        I think it might go beyond the security services. It could also mean that US based companies might promise not to share the data of US citizens with third parties, while not necessarily extending the same promise to dangerous foreign types like me.

        1. Rich 11

          Re: Trump has become more deranged

          @Mark Simon:

          while not necessarily extending the same promise to dangerous foreign types like me.

          Aha! I see you've chosen the gambit of pre-emptive admission of guilt in order to avoid torture. However, we're going to have to torture you anyway, just to make sure that you're not lying.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Trump has become more deranged

      Haven't you guys got someone in MI6 adept at eliminating "undesirables"?

      1. cantankerous swineherd

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        we're a bit out of practice old chap, but the CIA are pretty good at overturning democratic elections.

      2. MJI Silver badge

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        >>>> Haven't you guys got someone in MI6 adept at eliminating "undesirables"?

        We will get one of the double Os on to it now.

        1. Aladdin Sane

          Re: Trump has become more deranged

          Too busy delivering chocolates.

        2. Chris G

          Re: Trump has become more deranged

          Now that the boss of MI6 has admitted that Q is a woman, Bond is going to have to take out the Orange One with an exploding bra or strangle him with a cheesewire thong. The choice of car will be something 'with a nice face' and easy to park.

          Oh well just another challenge.

          Yes I know this is sexual stereotyping but my sense of humour, or at laest what passes for one is not yet PC.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Trump has become more deranged

            Are discounting the possibility that Melania is an attractive Rosa Klebb just waiting for activation?

        3. Lord_Beavis
          Happy

          Re: Trump has become more deranged

          After the Secret Service is done with Madonna, I believe they'll be coming to see you next. :)

      3. VinceH

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        'Haven't you guys got someone in MI6 adept at eliminating "undesirables"?'

        We could tell you that, but then we'd have to kill you.

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        @ac

        "Haven't you guys got someone in MI6 adept at eliminating "undesirables"?"

        The name's Bond! James Bond!

    4. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: Trump has become more deranged

      "We should all prepare for a third world war soon."

      It's very unlikely. It would damage too many of his properties around the world and there's no profit in it.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Trump has become more deranged

        Oh it won't start in a country with a Trump hotel

        He'll do something stupid like try and nuke ISIS & drop a couple in Afghanistan, that'll start the process

        Russia will see this as a global destabilisation & start annexing territories on it's border

        What's left of NATO won't like that & will fight back which should last a day maybe two & Russia will then start taking over Europe, America won't care as long as Trumps assets aren't harmed

        Sometime during all this China will get involved because they won't like the expansion of Russia, they'll get America involved by having Trumps assets destroyed as collateral damage & that's when the remaining nukes will fly

    5. Adrian Tawse

      Re: Trump has become more deranged

      What provisions are there in the constitution to remove a clearly deranged President. I would guess none. One with failed mental capacity is no problem, as we saw with Ronald Regan, but a deranged president presents a problem.

    6. Lord_Beavis
      Pirate

      Re: Trump has become more deranged

      It won't be a war. Think of it more as expanding the empire. Something the brits should know about.

    7. Archie1954

      Re: Trump has become more deranged

      Do as I did and buy yourself a nice vacation home far enough away from any large population centre that you can use in dangerous times. Mine is replete with a storehouse of food just in case.

  2. Slx

    Well, that's billions of € or $ down the toilet for the US IT sector.

    Lots of job losses soon as companies can't transact with the only other consumer market as big / bigger than the US.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      On the other hand, probably more jobs in datacenters in the EU...

      1. Jo_seph_B

        Handy, as the UK leave.....

        Might enlist, at least job security should be quite good at the moment!

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          The UK will be thick as thieves with the US if they leave the EU. Well, they are already but will decrease their choices as to who to obey.

  3. Starace
    Stop

    Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

    How many is that today?

    I know they all have a tenuous link to tech news but I come here for actual technology stories, not endless reminders of the muppet in the White House.

    Whatever backroom staff changes happened at El Reg in recent months have absolutely fucked the site content.

    1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

      We published 40 stories yesterday, four of which were about Donald: FBI+AG picks who want backdoors; IBM swinging its axe despite promising to Trump it will hire more; Trump admin using private email; Trump admin silencing scientists.

      These involve technology, did not dominate the news list, and are a hot topic right now. So, sorry you're tired of the new president already: 90% of new El Reg content on Wednesday had nothing to do with Donald, though.

      C.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

        The problem is that all the Trump stories lately carry a strong slant against him, even a dismissive tone that borders on calculated insult for insult's sake. These articles are making it clear the Kieren at least harbors a strong antagonism against the new President, and this attitude appeared full blown quite a while back, right about the time Trump won the election.

        It would be nice to see these Trump related stories not written as if to goad and inflame anti-Trump protestors everywhere. That's tabloid stuff.

        1. Dan 55 Silver badge

          Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

          Is there a pro attitude one can take when there's a chance that all privacy is stripped for almost everyone outside the US because almost everyone uses US operating systems which are all cloud enabled?

          Let me answer that for you: no, there is none whatsoever.

          1. Captain DaFt

            Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

            "Is there a pro attitude one can take when there's a chance that all privacy is stripped for almost everyone outside the US because almost everyone uses US operating systems which are all cloud enabled?"

            2017: The year of Linux in the EU?

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              "2017: The year of Linux in the EU?"

              That really doesn't matter if you keep on using Google services (and Android), Facebook, MS, Apple, Amazon, etc...

          2. Lou 2
            Facepalm

            Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

            IF you understand that it was not guaranteed under the previous administration either, then it is just noise that drowns out the real issues.

            Standard disclaimer - I am not a trump supporter.

          3. P. Lee

            Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

            >Is there a pro attitude one can take when there's a chance that all privacy is stripped for almost everyone outside the US because almost everyone uses US operating systems which are all cloud enabled?

            >Let me answer that for you: no, there is none whatsoever.

            Ok, I can think of one.

            Privacy in all those cloud-based systems was always an illusion. Hopefully making a bald statement about what was in the past conveniently ignored, will make everyone else get off their backsides and do their own IT, ditching those toxic cloud systems. Why "toxic"? Precisely because of this issue - times change and staking your business completely on systems so far out of your control may be cheap, but its dangerous. What happens if your railway industry uses Office365 in the cloud? Well, now Trump has leverage over your transport system which gives him leverage over your government. While someone-else holds an on-off button for your IT, you will be amenable to their demands.

            All this was eminently foreseeable. Ignoring it would be a mistake that only those too young to remember what the world used to be like would make. That probably also explains the young/old split over Brexit. Now we see some of the possibilities of what ceding power to jurisdictions we don't really control might do. Seeking the best short-term outcome while not considering the long-term - which is defined by, "anything can change" is unforgivably negligent by those whose job it is to plan for the long term.

          4. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

            You think you had it to begin with ?

        2. Throatwarbler Mangrove Silver badge

          Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

          Big John, maybe you should find yourself a safe space, like the Fox News forums, where your fellow traitors to America can give you nice reassuring (but definitely manly and not gay whatsoever) virtual hugs. The Register's purpose is more or less to put the boot in wherever it can. For example, you may have noted many stories in the past 8 years criticizing the Obama administration's violations of privacy and use of drone strikes. Now the shoe's on the other foot, and you can't take it.

        3. Someone Else Silver badge
          Big Brother

          @Big John -- Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

          How can anyone with an IQ above room temperature write anything about Herr Lügenfüher that doesn't carry the strong implication if not outright stating that the man is a lying sack of shit, and a fucking moron?

          1. Truckle The Uncivil

            Re: @Big John -- Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

            That is unfair. He is not a moron, he is quite clever sometimes. But the intelligence is misdirected and has only limited contact with the real world. There have been a few like him. R.L. Hubbard was another. I am not sure that they knowingly lie, either. Their charisma is so great because they believe what they are selling at the time even if they are selling something different five minutes later and they will never see the contrast.

            He is however a clear and present danger. A person with such a disconnect from reality should not be in his position.

          2. jackharbringer

            Re: @Big John -- Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

            "and a fucking moron?"

            I think we have to leave this one out, if you mean to imply that he's stupid and oblivious to what he's doing. I wouldn't underestimate exactly how smart he is. Just because his goals don't sync with what would be good for most of the population of anywhere, including ultimately the US in my opinion, doesn't mean he's stupid.

            However, if you're using moron in the sense of asshole, then please, carry on.

            1. Naselus

              Re: @Big John -- Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

              "I wouldn't underestimate exactly how smart he is."

              I don't think calling him stupid is underestimating how bright he is, tbh. He clearly believes some incredibly stupid, easily disproved things, and denies the reality of other, easily proven things. He may be the only person in history who managed to lose money owning a casino. His attention span is measured in minutes. His empire had fallen to pieces quite completely by the time NBC bailed him out with The Apprentice - and that was his business, it was what he'd been doing for 30 years by that point.

              What we've seen, again and again, is that Trump's basically just a mirror. If you're nice about him, he's nice about you. If you're nasty about him, he's nasty about you. That's why he's never denounced Putin - Putin has said nice things about him in the press, so Donald has to say nice things back. It's what makes him so predictable and easy to manipulate. And it doesn't exactly suggest great intellect - or any real strength of character, actually.

              He simply reacts to a (relatively small) set of stimuli in a generally very predictable manner, in much the way a nematode worm does. When poked, attack. When stroked, purr. When in front of a group of people, say whatever you think will make them be nice to you. He's actually quite bad at judging what that would be, as well; he was OK with the Republican base, because they're ideologically relatively homogeneous, so he can just say the most extreme thing that pops into his head and they'll lap it up, but in front of the entire nation he's incapable of determining a happy medium and is just becoming ever-increasingly bewildered.

        4. veti Silver badge

          Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

          There's a reason why all the media except those directly controlled by Trump and his henchmen are solidly anti-Trump: because the man is, quite clearly, by any plausible objective standard, unspeakably awful.

          And more than that: he goes out of his way to goad the press into making these judgments. Any time anyone in the media shows signs of softening towards him, he'll make some announcement or tweet carefully calculated to embarrass the fuck out of them.

          That's his strategy, it's how he won. Now he can paint the media as solidly against him, he can convince his faithful that "all truth is relative" and "the media is all lying", and behold! reality really doesn't matter any more. How many people were at his inauguration? Doesn't matter. All that matters is what Trump's own Twitter feed says.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

            All the more reason for EL Reg to have a Trump icon ! (hairstyle, pout and all).

            Cos Trump story is gonna run and run and run (for 4 years at least).

        5. Blotto Silver badge
          Facepalm

          Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

          @ BJ

          Incase you didn't notice, This is a red top

          https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabloid_journalism#Red_tops

          1. mark 177

            Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

            So is The Economist

          2. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

            Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

            Incase you didn't notice, This is a red top

            Although (hopefully) with a slightly higher quality of mouthbreather..

        6. heyrick Silver badge

          Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

          "It would be nice to see these Trump related stories not written as if to [etc]"

          Okay. Give us all an example of Trump doing something logical. Trump not shifting America's economic and/or social and/or scientific progress into high speed reverse. Trump not fucking over the rest of the world as collateral damage to his own delusions. Trump actually making sense. Trump... oh sod it, the list is long enough. Show us examples of that and we'll all be reading something nicer than the current selection of news articles.

          I won't hold my breath.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

            Give us all an example of Trump doing something logical

            Killing the TPP was the right and logical thing to do.

          2. fajensen
            Mushroom

            Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

            Okay. Give us all an example of Trump doing something logical.

            To me it Donald Trump is very logical. There is a tentacled beast aching with a terrifying eldritch power cloaked behind The Donald that no one yet sees because "everyone" amongst the media and "experts" are busy with rending of cloth, throwing ashes upon their heads and wailing over the latest 256 char of Donald Trump outrage on Twitter.

            Cats and Laser Pointer is the logic of Trump. The Donald is very, very good at his game.

            Trump not shifting America's economic and/or social and/or scientific progress into high speed reverse.

            A trend continuation is not a shift. Almost *every single parameter* one could use to describe the quality of life under the US neo-liberal regime has been in reverse ever since the 1980's. I said *every*, because the banks, squllionaires, and the mil-sec complex have grown fatter.

            Trump not fucking over the rest of the world as collateral damage to his own delusions.

            Hahaha - what material *difference* does it make to all those shredded wedding parties and dead Iraqi children if that old vampire bat Madeline Albrecht, or Hillary or even Nobel Prize Candidate Obama makes them collateral damage to pad their CV as a Warmonger, to better fit in with their peers?

            The world was fucked over solidly by Americans, whenever it pleased some corporate money-bag to have a regime changed somewhere, pretty much ever since the Monroe Doctrine.

            Trump actually making sense.

            Trump makes *every* sense. He is just communicating more effectively, much clearer, in a ways where it cannot be denied easily, that, compared to those Exceptional Americans with Rights and Stuff, everyone else on this planet are un-people, mere collateral damage that hasn't happened yet.

            *That* is really good to know, before we - say - join the US in yet another stupid war over nothing in particular in some forsaken soon-to-become shithole that exactly nobody cares about.

            This is Good too: https://zeroanthropology.net/2017/01/18/the-dying-days-of-liberalism/

            PS:

            You can exhale now.

        7. gnasher729 Silver badge

          Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

          "The problem is that all the Trump stories lately carry a strong slant against him, even a dismissive tone that borders on calculated insult for insult's sake."

          That's how you see it. But consider this: Two days ago, an official statement about how many people watched his inauguration, with three blatant, obvious, inexcusable lies. It was childish. It was embarrassing. It clearly demonstrates that the man has no respect of truth. Whether he is a notorious liar or whether he doesn't even realise real world facts, I don't know and I don't know which would be worse. So if there is a slant against him, that is one he created himself. And if I call him a liar, that's insulting but the truth, and therefore not an insult.

          And Trump has just declared that according to US law, US intelligence agencies now have the right to spy on me to the maximum extent possible. You will forgive me if I call anyone who declares he has the right to spy on me a fucking bastard.

          What about US IT companies? They are in deep shit now. Trump has just told the world that US companies will have a very hard time abiding with European laws if they store any data about European customers. However, fortunately for them and bad for Trump and his intelligence operations, there is a way around this: Encryption that cannot be cracked by the company itself. So yesterday, they NSA could spy on me - it might be illegal, but possible. Today it is legal. In two years time, it will be legal but impossible. Fuck Trump.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

            Two days ago, an official statement about how many people watched his inauguration, with three blatant, obvious, inexcusable lies.

            Were those the lies put out by the MSM and CNN? Maybe you should have a look at Interactive CNN gigapixel here to check who was lying.

            1. Steve Gill

              Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

              Cheers for that. Yup, zooming in confirms lots of space at the back of each of the sections as reported but the image also demonstrates why the Donald would view it as full from his point of view

            2. PeterGriffin

              Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

              Zoom in to the Gigapixel image and scroll left i.e. to the right hand side. Almost obscured by the trees are the vast swathes of empty space which are better highlighted by the aerial video stills from the rear view. The Gigapixel image confirms the lack of audience, but due to the low vantage point and compressed perspective you could be misled by the Alternative Facts™.

          2. Alumoi Silver badge

            Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

            ... with three blatant, obvious, inexcusable lies. It was childish. It was embarrassing. It clearly demonstrates that the man has no respect of truth. Whether he is a notorious liar or whether he doesn't even realise real world facts, I don't know and I don't know which would be worse.

            He's a politician for f***'s sake. Of course he lies. Of course he's got no idea how the real world works. He only knows what common sheep.. erm, people want to hear and he tells them so.

          3. fajensen
            Pint

            Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

            But consider this:

            No, you better consider this (Without Google): What did Donald Trump *do* while our "Great League Internet Warrior for Truth, Justice and LGBT Loos" were debunking Trumps Terrible Twitter Lies?

            Exactly! Nobody remembers!!

            PS:

            It's totally fine if indeed US IT-providers are fucked in relation to the EU; We need jobs, remember.

            Of course the EU will just lube up and bend over for Uncle Sam yet again, but, at some point, perhaps, the embarrassment of repeated public ass-poundings will force the EU to grow a pair and a will of its own. Eventually. One hopes.

            The TLA's sniffing of our underwear and sharing any good bits with everyone was always there (in PRISM t.ex.), now that The Donald is sniffing, and his friends ogling, it somehow becomes much worse than when Obama was doing the dirty deeds!? That is illogical, in my opinion.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

              "Of course the EU will just lube up and bend over for Uncle Sam yet again"

              Perhaps, but the odds of the UK doing that are a lot higher.

              Now, being all alone in the big scary world market, it follows that the UK must put its tail between its legs and do a lot of whimperish butt sniffing of a whole lot of countries. Seems Theresa is just the one for the job. (If only she'd been 25 years younger, she could have rolled over too.)

          4. Ken Hagan Gold badge

            Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

            "What about US IT companies? They are in deep shit now. "

            Not at all. The order contains the phrase "to the extent of applicable law" and in this case the applicable law means the order cannot be carried out to any extent whatsoever. It is just posturing to impress those who lack the applicable legal knowledge. Politicians of all shades do it all the time and are rarely picked up on it either because their opponents don't know any better or because their opponents don't want to cast the first stone.

        8. Rattus Rattus

          Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

          Big John, buddy... REALITY has a strong slant against the Orange One. Though I am sorry that you guys only had the choice between a childish buffoon and a harpy.

          1. Stoneshop
            Thumb Up

            Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

            REALITY has a strong slant against the Orange One.

            At first glance one might say that it's the other way around, as Reality tends to Just Be, without slants and biases, but DNA being spot-on once again: "The Guide is definitive. Reality is frequently inaccurate."

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: REALITY has a strong slant against the Orange One

            I feel oblidged to refer the Honorouble Gentleman to the previous usage, broadly mis-quoted like so:

            I decide what is a fact, and what is not.

            And here we are, AD 2017

        9. Dr. Mouse

          Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

          It would be nice to see these Trump related stories not written as if to goad and inflame anti-Trump protestors everywhere. That's tabloid stuff.

          Those I have seen have presented the facts of each story, along with potential implications, rounded off with the signature Register humour.

          They are not anti-Trump, except for the fact that Trump is doing silly things which deserve a bit of piss-take.

        10. This post has been deleted by its author

        11. ridley

          Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

          Big John please watch this

          https://youtu.be/1qdRyMgaR2g

        12. William Old
          FAIL

          Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

          @BigJohn:

          The problem is that all the Trump stories lately carry a strong slant against him, even a dismissive tone that borders on calculated insult for insult's sake.

          I don't calculate my anti-Trump insults, I just fling them raw... he really is the most moronic buffoon I have clapped eyes on for some time, and the fact that he has swindled thousands of small business contractors by taking corporate bankrupcy FOUR times really positions him as being disqualified from winning Citizen Of The Month for quite some time...

          And, whilst I'm on, why have I never seen any reference to the fact that, here in the UK, "trump" is a children's euphemism for "fart"? President Fart... sounds about right... :-)

          1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

            Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

            And, whilst I'm on, why have I never seen any reference to the fact that, here in the UK, "trump" is a children's euphemism for "fart"?

            Maybe you weren't paying attention.

      2. tom dial Silver badge

        Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

        I do not object to Register articles on US political matters, and in fact often find them and the ensuing commentary of interest in rasing issue and making points that had not occurred to me. That is not to say they are not sometimes slanted; they are, but not necessarily more than those in other news sources I read.

        Of the four articles from yesterday on "Trump" I only looked back at the one on Trump administration use of the RNC private email server, so this comment, too, is potentially and probably actually biased. That said, the article, and the Newsweek article on which it seems to have been biased and misrepresent the facts.

        "Senior members of the administration have been accused" of having RNC email accounts, not of using them for official duties. They also have not, according to the Newsweek article, been accused of continuing to use them (or, indeed, of using them at all). The Newsweek article also contains a statement from the RNC that the accounts have were deleted yesterday and suggests strongly that they never were used at all for sending or receiving email. To be fair, that was in a revision that may have been made after the Register story was posted.

        The relevance of the 22 million "lost" RNC email messages from the first couple of years of GW Bush's second term is somewhat marginal, but might be considered a bit slanted in omitting the fact that they were recovered in the first year of the Obama administration. In that context enclosing the word "lost" in quotes also might be thought to show a slant; as far as I can remember or could find today, evidence never was offered to indicate anything other than an IT operations failure, albeit one that may have been overlooked, possibly for its beneficial side effect of (temporarily) precluding disclosure of the email contents.

        The points about appearances, however, are quite on the mark.

      3. BillG
        Alert

        Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

        @diodesign, then, I have to ask, why didn't you cover those anti-Trumpers that earlier this month tortured a handicapped kid, forced him to curse Trump, all while streaming it live on Facebook?

        It involved technology, and dominated the news. It involved Facebook. It involved streaming video. You could have knocked Zuck again.

        It involved a handicapped kid mercilessly tortured and bullied by anti-Trumpers while he begged and pleaded for them to stop.

        El Reg could have asked the question "Why is it that nobody who witnessed this live Facebook event called the police"?

        Was this story against your slant? Or maybe you did cover this story and I missed it.

        http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/04/us/chicago-facebook-live-beating/

        "A young woman who broadcast the beating and racial taunting of a man on Facebook Live has been arrested with three others in connection with the gruesome attack, Chicago police said Wednesday.

        The disturbing 30-minute video shows a man tied up and his mouth covered, cowering in the corner of a room. His attackers laugh and shout "f*ck Donald Trump" and "f*ck white people" as they kick and punch him.

        The video shows someone cutting into his scalp with a knife, leaving a visibly bald patch."

        1. Truckle The Uncivil

          Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

          Do you really need an answer to this?

          You are trying to make their (the black offenders, the torturers) motives to be about Trump when they clearly appear to be racial rather than political. They said "fuck white people" and they said "fuck Donald Trump". It is worthy of note that Donald Trump is just one white person. There are no doubt that they have many negative feelings about many things, some justified, some not. That you cast them as "Anti-Trumpers" and _write them off_ as such is either irrational or just propaganda.

          You have selected and chosen a context. One that does not seem accurate.

          Or do you really believe that they tortured that boy because Trump got elected? (Clue: Don't answer 'yes' to that.)

          1. BillG
            Happy

            Re: Yet ANOTHER Trump story?

            @truckle wrote: You are trying to make their (the black offenders, the torturers) motives to be about Trump when they clearly appear to be racial rather than political. ...

            But I thought it was about Facebook and technology and streaming video... the same way some other Trump stories here are about Twitter... right?

  4. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

    Time to look for places other than US...

    ...to source software, hardware and indeed, all other products and services.

    Trump is acting as if he wishes to isolate the USA from the rest of the world. Can we (UK) be self-sufficient without him/them? I think it is possible, but not if we Brexit.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Time to look for places other than US...

      Probably coincidence but the number of slick relocate your tech business to Thailand, UAE and similar exotic climes ads from respective govs has gone through the roof on CNN this week.

      > Can we (UK) be self-sufficient without him/them?

      UK Gov are fond of quoting less accurate sources which inflate massively as it suits the current meme - but OEC stats (MIT) accurately put exports to US at $51 Billion (US) - a fraction of EU exports and much less than US imports.

      1. Lars Silver badge

        Re: Time to look for places other than US...

        @AC "OEC stats (MIT) accurately put exports to US at $51 Billion (US) - a fraction of EU exports".

        The "a fraction of EU exports" doesn't compute at all as you can see from this: (and the reality)

        Perhaps you could share with us your numbers.

        Exports UK ($436.2 billion (2015 est.)): US 14.6%, Germany 10.1%, Switzerland 7%, China 6%, France 5.9%, Netherlands 5.8%, Ireland 5.5% (2015)

        Just the four "biggest" EU export countries make up 27.3% against 14.6 for the US.

        As for imports.

        Imports UK ($627.7 billion (2015 est.)):Germany 14.8%, China 9.8%, US 9.2%, Netherlands 7.5%, France 5.8%, Belgium 5% (2015)

        https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/uk.html

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Time to look for places other than US...

          @AC "OEC stats (MIT) accurately put exports to US at $51 Billion (US) - a fraction of EU exports".

          >Perhaps you could share with us your numbers.

          They're MIT's numbers not mine - type OEC into Google.

          1. Lars Silver badge

            Re: Time to look for places other than US...

            "They're MIT's numbers not mine - type OEC into Google.". No they are not, are you mixed up with the US and the EU too.

            http://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/export/gbr/show/all/2014/

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Time to look for places other than US...

              > No they are not, are you mixed up with the US and the EU too.

              No I didn't the gross UK to US figure is USD 51 Billion. The total EU figure is around 8x that.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Holmes

      Re: Time to look for places other than US...

      It's already been long past time to identify your own sources. Just be aware that whanever any one of the 5Eyes misses something, the other four are quite willing to gather and share, which puts the whole question as to whom has privacy rights into context. Americans don't have any protection against the other four intelligence agencies. That's why this whole discussion is pretty much irrelevant.

      Factually, it'd make interesting to see what is in the dossiers held by the various services on myself. I already knew* that the NSA, FBI, and other TLAs, know me all the way back to the particular nursery where I was kept from the day I was born, way back when. Turns out it was the same exact room where my medical board was held. Mom remembered.

      * remember the OPM hack? I'm one of the 'victims.'

    3. P. Lee

      Re: Time to look for places other than US...

      Yes, yes it is.

      Has anyone noticed that all the IT vendors are trying to own the entire stack? That's what has led to "appliances" and then "the cloud." The reason for that is that the large corporates are terrified of being dependent in any way on each other because they all play dirty and none of them are trustworthy.

      Owning the OS wasn't enough - someone could drop in Java and the app no longer depended on the OS. Someone could come along and drop in a Linux box and run the app on that. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you full control of all OS's: the hypervisor!

      Oh @#$%^ Cisco has come along and put servers right in the network boxes - I'll bet NetApp will be adding CPU to storage if we're not careful... we need to bring the network and storage under corporate control too... Ladies and Gentlemen I give you: the Cloud!

      But what if people don't like the high-latency, the US jurisdiction and the lock-in? We'll stop offering on-premise solutions - they'll have no choice!

      Maybe customers need to stop thinking about shiny and start thinking about how the tech industry behaves before they go back to the mainframe model.

      Yes, we have commodity hardware, bit it will do you no good, because we aren't going to give you the ability to run the APIs your software is written to, on your own kit.

      >Trump is acting as if he wishes to isolate the USA from the rest of the world.

      Probably because those that voted him into power have been the losers from globalisation. We've now got to the point where those who perceive themselves as the losers and those who perceive themselves as the winners are balancing out.

      He's making good on election pledges. Does that make him an idiot with integrity (ok, that's hard to say with a straight face) and is that better or worse than a clever scumbag?

      I'm curious as to whether most of the cross-border trade is Mexican exports of Mexican-owned goods or Mexican exports of goods made by US companies which have relocated factories to Mexico. My guess would be the latter, in which case it will be large US multinationals and US consumers who pay the price and the US government who profits.

      >Can we (UK) be self-sufficient without him/them? I think it is possible, but not if we Brexit.

      Why? Brexit doesn't affect our US relations. We import loads of stuff from outside the EU at the moment and it isn't a problem. We can still trade with the EU, even if we aren't members - everyone else in the world does. We can still trade with the EU if we are outside the EEA. Most of the world does that too.

      As far as the US goes, US companies may dominate the markets, but the goods don't come from the US, so all that stuff can still come from China, just as it always did, with or without the EU, with or without a Mexican wall, with or without US tariffs.

    4. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: Time to look for places other than US...

      "Trump is acting as if he wishes to isolate the USA from the rest of the world."

      I'm glad to see him cracking on with it so much faster than us. With any luck he'll make the US a splendid example of what can go wrong to show the Brexiters whilst we still have time.

      1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

        Re: Time to look for places other than US...

        " With any luck he'll make the US a splendid example of what can go wrong to show the Brexiters whilst we still have time."

        I was just thinking that, if Trump had been doing this deranged sh*t before the EU vote, I suspect the Remain side would have won. He is a warning example, if there ever was one.

  5. Commswonk

    More immediately...

    But the Trump Administration has been nothing if not erratic and has repeatedly shown it is willing to tear up existing agreements and protocols.

    What possible incentive is there for anyone to even think of negotiating any sort of agreement with the US (= Trump) if he is so willing to renege on existing agreements? I can all too easily see some sort of agreement being reached and signed only for it to be torn up before the return flight has landed. Never was the old adage of counting your fingers after a handshake more pertinent.

    Ultimately the US will be the greatest loser because nobody will want to trade with it. Yes we will all lose to some extent, but the US will find itself morally isolated.

    1. Christoph

      Re: More immediately...

      "counting your fingers after a handshake"

      And wash your hands

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: More immediately...

        No worries, just a little random pee.

    2. P. Lee

      Re: More immediately...

      >What possible incentive is there for anyone to even think of negotiating any sort of agreement with the US (= Trump) if he is so willing to renege on existing agreements?

      The US always does what's best for itself.

      As far as reneging on agreements go, I'm not so fussed. Personally, I'm pleased TPP got torn up, hopefully TTIP is next. What's the point of electing a government if it can't change anything? Where do you draw the line about what can and can't be changed? Trump was pretty clear about what he was going to do and people voted for him. I find the press sounds like extracts from the Princess Bride, "It's inconceivable...." But, I do not think that word means what you think it means.

      In the UK we have similar rules, no parliament can bind future parliaments. That's right and proper. Does that make business a little less certain? Yes, but given the trend towards megacorps and the suffocating of competition, I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

      As far as no-one wanting to trade with the US, I think you'll find that as long as there is money to be made, trade will happen.

  6. macjules
    FAIL

    One week in ..

    Still not much yet from Mike 'Fiddy' Pence.

    Theresa 'May of the Dead" has flown over to be beside Trump .. presumably his golden aurora makes her putrid rotting flesh look alive. After all opposites do attract, or so she says.

    American taxpayers look likely to stump up for The Wall, to be built by Mexicans for Mexicans. "Making CEMEX great again" looks like the need mot du jour. After all remember that "We don' need no edukashun, we don' need no border control"

    1. Commswonk
      Thumb Down

      Re: One week in ..

      Theresa 'May of the Dead" has flown over to be beside Trump .. presumably his golden aurora makes her putrid rotting flesh look alive.

      Thank you for your major contribution to a serious topic about how international relations look likely to develop. Really informative, but not in the way you probably intended.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: One week in ..

        Commswonk, this isn't the Telegraph.

        You sound like you're harping back for Margaret Thatcher again. Different Era and even as someone who hated MT and her values, I'd take MT any day of the week compared to the backwards thinking Theresa "May of the Dead". TM (even her initials TM are the reverse MT, FFS, which has to feed into her own the farcical adoration) .

        In fairness, May does look like a living Corpse. Putrid rotting flesh, is taking it a bit far, mind you. The preceding slimey and slippery stage of fish, is probably more appropriate, with the memory of a Goldfish in terms of consistency.

        "What possible incentive is there..." was actually quite rational, probably the first thing I can say we agreed on.

        1. Commswonk

          Re: One week in ..

          Commswonk, this isn't the Telegraph.

          Oh <deity>, isn't it? Where am I?

          I will stick to the argument that such comments about Theresa May are at best juvenile, adding nothing meaningful to the overall discussion. In the interests of balance I cannot bear the idea of Jeremy Corbyn being PM, but I would not describe him in the way that some seem happy to describe TM, or MT for that matter.

          Too many "Anonymous Cowards" around these days; you are Jeremy Corbyn and I claim the £5 prize.

    2. Truckle The Uncivil

      Re: One week in ..

      Has anybody pointed out the ecological damage to be done, being done by the wall?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: One week in ..

        Ecoological damage? The psychological damage of the wall is far greater to mankind, going forward.

        It seems to be a brain dead idea of what someone living in gated communities (all they have ever known) might see as a rational way to expand on their type of lifestyle, as though its a good thing.

        For every penny spent on that wall, is money diverted, a mouth that isn't fed and an incremental growth of hatred against everyone on the other side of that wall.

        Gentrification/Gated Communities aren't a good thing but they tolerated because on the small scale they don't affect you, on the large scale, they do.

  7. This post has been deleted by its author

  8. Oh Bother
    Mushroom

    Mineshafts!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybSzoLCCX-Y

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Could be worse

    May doesn't think anyone should have privacy, except the government of course.

    1. fajensen

      Re: Could be worse

      'Course, the value of whatever private scams they are running will diminish with competition.

  10. GrumpyOldBloke

    Do we have any constitutional lawyers in our midst. I would think that if we are to be subject to US law, even as foreign citizens, then that law derives its legality from the constitution with all the restrictions and protections that this implies including unreasonable search and seizure or privacy protections. Does the constitution allow two legal systems. One for US citizens with restrictions on government mendacity and one for the rest of the world that simply says 'go crazy'?

    1. tom dial Silver badge

      I am not a constitutional lawyer or scholar, but have read it more than a few times and studied and thought about it some, and suggest the following.

      Under the US Constitution, treaties, once approved by the Senate, have the effect of a law passed by the congress and signed by the president. (That is in Article II, section 2 and Article VI, section 2). It is probable that subordinate agreements negotiated under the authority of a treaty (approved by the Senate) also have the same effect as a law that the congress passed and the president signed. The EU-US Privacy Shield may be in this category.

      The Judicial Redress Act is a law passed by the congress and signed by the president; as such, it would be subject to possible repeal. It might, however, have been an act to implement certain features of an existing treaty, and might therefore not have much, or any, effect on Privacy Shield rights. The outgoing Attorney General's notice in the Federal Register, as a derivative of the Redress Act, probably would go away in the event of repeal of that act. Redress after privacy compromise, of course, has little to do with whether the US government adheres to the agreement. It also is subject to rescission by the new AG, so everyone should be on watch for that.

  11. cambsukguy

    Agencies shall, to the extent consistent with applicable law

    Perhaps, if it is illegal, they won't be able to do it.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Agencies shall, to the extent consistent with applicable law

      Sadly, I think that's overly optimistic.

    2. Someone Else Silver badge

      Re: Agencies shall, to the extent consistent with applicable law

      You're not from this side of the pond, are ya?

    3. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Devil

      Re: Agencies shall, to the extent consistent with applicable law

      "Perhaps, if it is illegal, they won't be able to do it."

      that's the theory. I suspect actual practice will be much different than the FUD.

      I also suspect that this was aimed primarily at ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, and not an excuse for NSA spying on the world. In other words, if a gummint program guarantees some level of privacy protection, such protection would NOT apply to illegal aliens. People here legally [including tourists] would most likely continue to be given the same kinds of rights and respect as before [even though our Constitution does NOT guarantee such things].

      The REAL measuring stick should be this: the U.S. should treat foreigners the SAME way that U.S. Citizens are treated overseas. Just sayin'...

      1. Hero Protagonist

        Re: Agencies shall, to the extent consistent with applicable law

        "I also suspect that this was aimed primarily at ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, and not an excuse for NSA spying on the world."

        And we know law enforcement and intelligence agencies never apply laws in ways they were not intended.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Agencies shall, to the extent consistent with applicable law

        As a lot of people of non-american origin who are in the America seem to be in some sort of prison, maybe we should add some additional cells at Heathrow and stick the tourists straight in?

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Agencies shall, to the extent consistent with applicable law

      Except, we won't know because Obama classified the laws.

      1. tom dial Silver badge

        Re: Agencies shall, to the extent consistent with applicable law

        "Obama classified the laws."

        He did not. The laws, as enacted, are widely available for anyone with even a passing interest to see.

        Some executive orders are classified in part or in their entirety, but executive orders cannot authorized what the laws do not. Some of them stretch laws to their limit or beyond, or sometimes interpret them to permit actions that many or most of us would think they do not allow. However, such actions, once known, are likely to be trimmed back by the courts and either discontinued or (as with the PATRIOT Act) authorized in subsequently enacted laws.

  12. Bob J.

    Trump does us one favor with this bizarre abdication of responsibility

    He reminds us that the intelligence services of the world are the ones largely pulling the chains in this domain. Trump obviously knows and cares little about privacy regimes and the rule of law that is our protection against invasions of privacy. His own phone is so obsolete it can be tapped remotely at any time. So, someone else has planted this little seed in the Orange Man's round head. Who can it be but....! Vigilance is the price of liberty. Trump reminds us to be vigilant again. Over and over, again.

    1. Mark 85

      Re: Trump does us one favor with this bizarre abdication of responsibility

      Just wait for the flashbangs to go off and all hell breaking loose if his phone or Twitter are ever hacked. I don't think we've seen anything yet.

  13. jason 7

    I was sat in the pub this evening.

    People were watching his speech today and just laughing at the man.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I was sat in the pub this evening.

      I am reminded of another 'little' man who was laughed at, from afar.

      He did eventually stop the laughter, in a not very useful way, and I fear that Trump will also.

      His need to be in command and the 'best' at everything, even if it requires re-writing reality, is the real problem. He does not care about details and busks through everything by use of the 'Magic' Executive order. How is dozens of Executive orders any different to a dictatorship ?

      We can keep laughing if we want but I think we need to take the impending problems seriously and start planning how we are going to deal with the world according to Trump, as he brings it all down around our heads. :(

      America will find out real soon that they are not immune to the chaos that is being wrought.

      Makes Putin look sane and a safe pair of hands. (God help us all :) )

      1. tom dial Silver badge

        Re: I was sat in the pub this evening.

        Have an upvote for the general tenor and content. I would ask, though, whether anything imagined of Trump's actions exceeds what we already have seen of Putin. I do not think of Putin as a "safe pair of hands," and I do not live in a country with a common border to Russia.

      2. gnasher729 Silver badge

        Re: I was sat in the pub this evening.

        "I am reminded of another 'little' man who was laughed at, from afar.

        He did eventually stop the laughter, in a not very useful way, and I fear that Trump will also."

        You are talking about Nigel Farage, aren't you?

      3. Tom -1

        Re: I was sat in the pub this evening.

        "Makes Putin look sane and a safe pair of hands. (God help us all :) )"

        No, nothing could make Putin looks like a safe pair of hands. Trump merely makes him look less insane and a less dangerous pair of hands.

        I would estimate the probability of Trump doing something wrong thing being only 1.1 times the probability of May doing something wrong, and the probability of May doing something wrong being about 1.1 times the probability of Putin doing something wrong wrong - in round figures call it 99% for Trump, 90% for May, and 82% for Putin during the next four years. That one of them will do something wrong is very close to certainty (in fact it lokkslike better than 2 to 1 on that each of the three will do something wrong), so let's just hope that whatever they the something(s) is/are don't leave us too damaged.

  14. Winkypop Silver badge
    Happy

    I'll stop saying Trump is an imbecile when...

    ...he stops acting like one.

    TIA

  15. Potemkine Silver badge

    That means...

    ... that we 'aliens' have to stop to consider the US as a friendly country. We should now see the US like Russia: dangerous, shameless, xenophobic, reckless.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: That means...

      What do you mean stop? When was US not dangerous, shameless, xenophobic and reckless?

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "privacy protections would not be extended past US citizens or permanent residents in America."

    * Even if you ignore everything Snowden taught us, Its virtually impossible to enforce this.

    * For example where is the one-to-one guaranteed relationship between every US based citizen / permanent-resident and their internet accounts? Geo-IP won't cut it.

    * If a US citizen logs into facebook.co.uk / yahoo.co.uk / live.co.uk, are they considered fair game for snooping? How about every US citizen living or travelling aboard etc? How about an American with an overseas partner or friend? How about all illegals living inside the US? How about non-Americans using US based VPNs / Tor services etc? How about foreign expats working inside the US etc?

    * The truth is everything is hoovered up and then filtered through later. When intelligence agencies are called in front of secret courts for snooping on US citizens, they'll continue to just cover that fact up, that's all...

    * We're all Muslims now... Its just that the poor have more to fear, because we can't lawyer up, and won't be missed if ever renditioned to gitmo!

  17. JWG

    Executive orders and SCOTUS

    Just for you lot in the UK and any Americans who entered the public school system in the U.S. after 1976: The Supreme Court, in several rulings, have stated that the Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment protections extend to foreign nationals (legal or otherwise) inside our borders. That's applicable law. I won't bother enumerating all of those decisions (if you're too damned lazy to look them up or didn't learn it in school, sorry). Acts of Congress can only apply to citizens,resident aliens, and those with green cards; if you don't fall into one of 3 categories you're SOL. Executive orders only pertain to the Executive Branch departments and agencies under the control of the President and are only guidelines, not law (only Congress can pass laws, the Executive is the enforcement branch of those laws). The most recent former president used his "pen" far too liberally (most of what he did would have been undone by the courts and some already have). So far, our new President hasn't issued an Executive Order that appears to either unconstitutional or in opposition to any existing federal law. As for the snide comments about someone starting "WWIII", there are built-in safeguards which the new president has been advised about in detail. The President of the United States does not operate in a vacuum, he/she is not a dictator (despite the misinformation being bandied about by leftist libtards, who have absolutely no idea how the U.S. Government actually works, since they don't know the difference between a republic and a pure democracy).

    1. streaky

      Re: Executive orders and SCOTUS

      Except we don't know the content of all the orders he's issued in secret? Which is why privacy shield is a loljoke in the first place.

    2. ps2os2

      Re: Executive orders and SCOTUS

      But Trump does exist in his ALT fantasy world and he doesn't get security briefings everyday.

  18. DaveyBoy

    UK not covered by the agreement..

    If you read the attorney general's document, the UK is not covered under the redress protections.

    So are we in the UK protected at all?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: UK not covered by the agreement..

      I'm going to go ahead and say 'no' - even if we are, the Lizard Queen will make bloody sure that that state of affairs will change.

    2. tom dial Silver badge

      Re: UK not covered by the agreement..

      As specified in the outgoing Attorney General's notice on the Judicial Redress Act, inclusion of the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Ireland would need to be triggered by a notification from the European Commission.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This is no different in reality to previous US administrations, Edward Snowden proved that.

  20. stevejs

    Trump signs 'no privacy for non-Americans' order – what does that mean for rest of us?

    Well - "the rest of us" who are not "non-Americans" are ..... "Americans" - and they don't care what you you think!

  21. adobob

    Upside Down World

    Yet another story carefully massaged to look worse than it is, and the echo chamber suck it up without checking. Pretty much every story criticising Trump is farcical if you spend like 2 minutes googling sources.

    Trump is bit daft, no question, but I love that he's become President, absolutely fantastic. No, there won't be a WW3, only childlike Hillary supporter / Womens March type twerps who are still frothing at the mouth in rage could think stupidity like that. Then again, Madonna stood up at the Women's March and called for the assassination of Trump, so yeah, that's peaceful ... but she's called a hero for that. Right, yeah, so that's fair and reasonable. Trump had a smaller turnout for Inauguration than Obama, shock horror, and yet these are the kinds of stories that the media is reporting on ... wow, banal, vacuous, drivel. They might as well be reporting on me cutting my tornails last night for all it's significance.

    Loving every minute of the Trump Presidency so far, it's utterly brilliant, and yeah, with regards to this story, Obama was doing all of this stuff already, and lying about it. At least Trump is being honest about it, but honesty gets you ... what, derision? Funny that huh, Obama does stuff, lies about it, and gets lauded for that. Trump says he's going to do that, and is open and honest about it, and he gets criticised. You're all mad if you think that praising Obama and pouring scorn on Trump in this scenario is sane or reasonable ! :)

    1. Peter2 Silver badge

      Re: Upside Down World

      But, but... American's going to go to war with Russia and have WW3!

      Despite Trump promising to improve US relations with Russia. And doing that's wrong! (and kindly ignore the fact that Mrs Clinton actually presented a "reset button", to the Russians in 2009 to symbolise her "reset relations" with Russia because that doesn't fit with the agenda)

      The fundamental problem with whipping up this level of hysteria is that sooner or later it collapses under it's own weight.

      1. ps2os2

        Re: Upside Down World

        The new (not yet voted on) Secretary of State has been awarded the highest Russian civilian award. Add to that trump is floating around the WH a memo giving Russia back its status of Most favored Nation.

        Also allowing his wife to sell merchandise off the White House Web site out a wrinkle in everything.

        Putin (and his FSB agent IVANKA) must be jumping for joy.

    2. LionelB Silver badge

      Re: Upside Down World

      Trump had a smaller turnout for Inauguration than Obama, shock horror, and yet these are the kinds of stories that the media is reporting on ... wow, banal, vacuous, drivel.

      Well duh, because Trump himself made a big deal and lied outrageously about it. That was the story, not the smaller turnout itself.

    3. HausWolf

      Re: Upside Down World

      If you haven't noticed the short fingered vulgarian is the one making the big deal about the size of his "crowd" .. then doubling down and lying about it and tell federal agencies to get him more pictures to make it look better.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Upside Down World

      You've got the upside down world.

      Why do you only see Black and White? You think if I criticize Trump, I kissed Obama's arse?

      You need to understand about Grey and it's many many shades.. I will criticize and discredit all US presidents, Republican, Democrat, or Independent, until they start behaving like human beings.

      Feeling goes the same for ANY politician ANYWHERE in the world. So I will continue battering Trump, then continue Battering his replacement, Like I battered his predecessor.

      You probably joined in with me on battering Obama, but now are getting Butthurt because your feelings are being discarded as well.

      The problem is not with people bashing Trump, the problem is no9w you are feeling personally offended, as Trump is your man.

  22. streaky

    Privacy Act/Privacy Shield

    "The US Privacy Act has never offered data protection rights to Europeans"

    Neither has Privacy Shield. The fact POTUS can just issue whatever he likes and we don't know what he's repealed/issued in secret is the entire problem. The EU can't get it's act together on this and never will.

    Caspar Bowden will be spinning in his grave

  23. bobbear

    Choose your president carefully...

    Suggested Presidential Qualities, (as defined by Forbes et al):

    -------------------------------------

    Honesty

    Decency

    Wisdom

    Integrity

    Intelligence

    Strength of Character

    Strong moral fibre

    Humility

    Compassion

    Humanity

    -------------------------------------

    and, (Based on the above core qualities):

    -------------------------------------

    A strong vision for the future

    A deep knowledge of history and its lessons

    Strong management skills

    Effective communication skills

    Team motivational skills

    Awareness of one's own weaknesses

    A willingness to listen and learn

    Ability to control emotions

    Ability to handle pressure & stress

    -------------------------------------

    I see very little of Donald Trump in the above, lacking most of the desirable core presidential traits and most of the secondary qualities.

    I quote from Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural speech:

    "With malice toward none, with charity for all, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

    Different times, of course, but a little different from the Trump effort, I fear.

    Heaven help us all...

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Shouldn't affect us at all

    We are the 51st state already (in all but name) and our Right Honourable Lady (pun intended) May is already there sucking Trumps balls .

    We shall even report as headline news when Trump, so much as even farts.

    What's not to like?

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    you could check whether this story is really true

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Meh

    Since..

    American security forces were caught spying on EU leaders, I dont see how anyone thinks they have privacy, unless you go through steps to secure your own data then you should really treat it as if it is open. Trump or no Trump.

    1. tom dial Silver badge

      Re: Since..

      Bears shit in the woods. Spies spy on foreign governments, including their leaders. That may offend some people, but it is incomprehensible it would surprise anyone with even minimal knowledge and understanding of history and foreign affairs.

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why not us?

    Even we should build a wall across the channel and let the French & Germans pay for this. Will boost local employment in Blighty and boast it to the world.

    Nigel Farage will be in charge of this endeavour and Trump the special envoy.

    I will buy shares in the UK steel,cement industry and brick making companies.

    Pure Keynesian !

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mrs May is not an Angel, either.

    It is under her watch that we in Britain have lost any semblence of privacy, online and otherwise (how many cctv cameras in uk now?), due to the various bills passed when she was Home secretary and also the latest RIPA under her premiership. All of course to protect us (and our children from pedos) from terrorists.

    She was championing this cause from very early on.

    Already the Thatcher traits are evident. (Intolerant, arrogant, self righteous etc).

    Women+power= ??

    1. Tom -1

      Re: Mrs May is not an Angel, either.

      "Women+power= ??" - until that line it was a good post. But do you really think that either Thatcher or May as prime minister has done (or will do) as much damage per day in that office as did any of Macmillan, Wilson, Heath, Callaghan, Major, Blair, Brown or Cameron? And although May was a very anti-people's-rights home secretary she supervised less disgraceful decent towards a British Police state than did any other home secretary since 1997, and probably did less to reduce the freedom of British people than did James Chuter Ede who as (Labour) Home Secretary renewed the identity card laws when the came up for review in 1947, leading to many people being pointessly prosecuted (and punished) for not carrying their card during the next few years. (SIr David Maxwell Fyfe, the (Tory) Home Secretary at the next review date in1952, refused to present a motion to the house to continue the ID Card law, thus killing it dead). And Macmillan's treachery in 1956 probably did more damage to Britain than May will manage to do despite her best efforts.

      Don't get me wrong - Thatcher was a necessary evil and is an unneccessary evil; but neither of them awas or is any worse than typical male politicians at that level have been for rather a long time, in fact neither was or is as bad as many of the males. That doesn't mean either was or is good - just less bad than others - but it does mean that your "Women+power= ??" was silly and uncalled for.

  29. EnviableOne

    This has really kinda strayed off-topic, Lets get back on track and work with what we know.

    Privacy shield is based on the requirement that EU citizens will be-afforded the same protections as GDPR or till it comes into force Directive 95/46/EC in the united states and that their data will be safeguarded.

    PPD28 effectively enacts this before laws are put in place, various acts due to come into force, supersede this as of 1 Feb

    What this EO does is remove the protections of PPD28, which will be defunct as of 1 Feb anyway.

    Privacy Shield is based on Parts of several Federal Laws that have been passed by the senate and as such are beyond the powers of the executive branch alone.

    Mentioned in the EU Equivalency Determination are:-

    42 U.S.C. § 2000ee et seq

    U.S. SAFE WEB Act - 15 U.S.C. § 46(j)(3)

    Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (‘COPPA’)

    The FTC Act - 15 U.S.C. § 45(a)

    the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (‘FACTA’),

    15 U.S.C. § 45(l); 16 C.F.R. § 1.98(c)

    DOT 49 U.S.C. 41712

    The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (50 U.S.C. § 1801 et seq.) (FISA),

    Intelligence Community Directive (ICD) 204

    Section 702 was passed as part of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008

    Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Privacy Shield is based the assumption that the US govt will abide by on Parts of several Federal Laws.

      FTFY

  30. Mike 137 Silver badge

    Just a suggestion...

    It would be rather nice if occasionally we could keep on topic. I can't find a single mention above of the important matter that was the subject of the item - the potential effect on EU/US personal data transfers.

    However this seems to be increasingly the case - almost every piece in the Register is becoming a mere trigger for personal rants and strained attempts to be 'comic'.

    1. fajensen
      Paris Hilton

      Re: Just a suggestion...

      What do you expect?

      Internet Media relies 110% on funding from spam-vertisers. To get good prices for add placement spots, the media must have high page views. To consistently get high page views, media use Machine Learning and other tools to measure and test the response - in terms of click-ratings and page views - to various kinds of articles, layout, subjects, the use of words, and so on, always optimising the parameters for the writer-bots and fleshy-writer-bots for whatever moves the needle on the add revenue.

      Thus, every successful for-profit internet media will be converted into The Daily Mail.

      This just by using dumb AI and A/B split testing, no singularity is needed for grey-goo'ing the Internet.

  31. Arctic fox
    Unhappy

    It has been very interesting reading this thread. There is one point I feel should be made:

    He did not expect to win. He and his entire team look as if they are beginning to realise that they have a tiger by the tail and are terrified of letting go. They are ratcheting up the ante in a desperate attempt to keep away from the teeth at the other end. I do not give this administration more than two years at the outside. With regard to what may happen in those two years, God help us all.

    1. jason 7

      Re: It has been very interesting reading this thread. There is one point I feel should be made:

      Just like Boris didn't expect to win Brexit.

      I was never convinced by him leaving the Leadership race because Gove stepped in. He just wanted the slimmest excuse to jump out of the way.

  32. Atlas
    Headmaster

    Folks, this only affects US Gov't work policies

    The author does not understand the US Constitution.

    Laws, such as what Obama signed last year, are authored by Congress and their scope can cover all persons and entities. Executive orders only affect what US Government employees can do within their work environments.

    This means Facebook and other companies, as well as anything any US citizen does while not at work for a US government entity, is still covered by all laws. Additionally, even those working for a US Government institution are required to follow current laws by Trump's own Order.

    So, what does this Executive Order really influence? Anything Obama told US Government employees to previously do which was over and above all laws and treaties.

    You English folks don't understand that Obama made US Government employees "blind" to basic information that has always been used and required to do their jobs, at least in regard to those who enforced border controls.

    The Reg should sanity check its authors.

  33. SotarrTheWizard
    Alert

    People. . . . the Privacy Act applies to data held by the ***US Government***. . . .

    . . . not commercial entities. Relax.

    https://infogalactic.com/info/Privacy_Act_of_1974

  34. greatpix

    There should never be an expectation of privacy in the EU because, in fact, there is none. The intrusions into the privacy of European citizens by their own governments far exceeds anything done in the US.

  35. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    @Mooseman

    Downvoted for repeating the same old joke too many commentards have already posted.

  36. JeffyPoooh
    Pint

    Why even mention Facebook ?

    Irrespective of their "privacy policies", one should assume that:

    Facebook .EQ. NOT Privacy

    'tis very simple.

  37. Tom -1

    @JWG "they don't know the difference between a republic and a pure democracy"

    Oddly enough though, unlike you suckers in the US, we do know that the US is neither a republic nor a democracy but a plutocratic oligarchy (or perhaps, given how congressmen gather round the barrel, it's a plutocratic kleptocracy like Putin's Russia).

    1. Lars Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: @JWG "they don't know the difference between a republic and a pure democracy"

      @ Tom-1. Don't be stupid. the American people never choose to become a "oligarchy" and as for being gullible you Brits are quite good at that too. Let's instead keep the feet of our politicians to the fire and pay attention to what they are up to, where ever they live.

      Here some fun for the weekend:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM8iWOOLlls

  38. NonSSL-Login

    If legality has any question marks...they will abuse the gap

    If there is a single question regarding legality of breaking laws, privacy related or not, the NSA and related agencies will use and abuse it.

    "It then goes on to flag two pieces of new legislation that it believes made the new Privacy Shield legal under European law"

    The EU data commissioner only 'believes. it might be legal. Not good enough. Sack this guy and put someone in who can do the job and will protect EU data.

  39. ps2os2

    Buy stock in any company that is survivalist oriented,. Right now on Cable TV they are selling dried food that can be reconstituted with water.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "...dried food that can be reconstituted..."

      Screw that.

      Push come to shove, I'll be on a tropical island with chickens and pigs, coconuts and corn, bananas and rum. If civilization ended, then the Internet would stop working. But we'd still eat reasonably well.

    2. Captain Badmouth
      Coat

      "Right now on Cable TV they are selling dried food that can be reconstituted with water."

      Good luck finding that clean water, long term.

      Mine's the one with the Moondance cd in the pocket.

  40. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

    US Citizens living abroad

    Do you think that it is going to be more difficult to live in a foreign country with that US Passport of yours? It may be a millstone around your neck if Trump continues his isolationist policies on various fronts. It would be interesting to see if there is an uptick in people renouncing their US Citizenship, and whether this has any impact on funds in IRS coffers.

    1. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

      Re: US Citizens living abroad

      Let me elaborate a bit more on that. Suppose Americans living abroad decide that - whatever crazy policies Trump comes up with, including those involving taxation - they decide they aren't going to pay their dues, who picks up the tab for that? Apparently it is the duty of organisations that hold funds for that person (in whatever country they reside in) to seize those funds and send them to the IRS. We have already seen banks refusing to open accounts for Americans. Will we see any escalation of policies relating to that with Trump in power? For instance, banks closing accounts en masse on the grounds that it is no longer viable to hold funds for any American account-holders. What grounds does an account-holder have for taking a bank to court over the questionable legality of seizure of funds, for example? We have already seen turmoil over immigration played out yesterday with "no fly" lists, will we see similar uncertainty in other fields too which result in not knowing what to enforce and what not to?

  41. Adrian Tawse

    WW3

    Most posters will not remember the Cuban missile crisis; I do. I was at boarding school at the time and there was an early warning radio in the Bursars office. I went beep, beep, beep just to signal that it was getting a signal. At the four minute warning at would have screamed an alarm, the school bell would have sounded and we were all instructed to make our way to the school chapel. The school was close enough to London that we would all have died in the first strike, just not mercifully quickly. Living through that changes something inside. This is no joking matter. Trump is insane.

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