Authors:
Ramnath Sai Sagar
Mr. Schrems has his doubts about ‘Safe Harbor 2.0’, according to his recent interview with Ars Technica. Others have been quick to jump on board with dissent, eyeing opportunities to become a neutral data haven. According to John Whelan, a data privacy lawyer, in an interview with the Irish site independent.ie, “If Privacy Shield doesn’t work out and ultimately data has to be segregated, Ireland is viewed as a good and safe place to store data by multinationals.”
In our view it’s unfortunate when when the physical location of data is used to sovereign advantage. The debate is really about the jurisdiction that governs privacy in a borderless internet. It’s analogous to the imperialistic ideology of traditional network security; build a firewall and monitor your perimeter instead of securing the applications and data- your virtual citizens. Who cares where the information is physically stored and processed as long as only the right people can see it? In our opinion the tech industry should obviate the debate with a multilateral security and privacy framework that empowers international citizens, i.e. their users. Governments should follow.