Int’l Data Privacy Law 21 Structuring International Data Privacy Law By Paul M. Schwartz * & Karl-Nikolaus Peifer ** I. Introduction Due to the significance of international flows of personal information, the stakes are high today for the European Union and the United States when it comes to data privacy law. According to one estimate, the U.S.-EU economic relationship involves $260 billion in annual digital services trade. 1 Cross-border information flows represent the fastest growing component of U.S. as well as EU trade. 2 In today’s information economy, moreover, much of this U.S.-EU trade involves personal data. As one reporter on the tech beat noted, “International data transfers are the lifeblood of the digital economy.” 3 The sharing and use of personal information now drive many daily activities, including finances, health care, shopping, telecommunications, and transportation. Leading U.S. technology companies depend on access to and use of the personal information of EU citizens to provide data-driven services on the continent. Cloud providers, which offer decentralized mobile access to computing power throughout the world, similarly access and use the personal data of EU citizens. Differences in transatlantic regulations potentially imperil these critical international data flows. The resulting EU-U.S. dispute has been termed the “transatlantic data war.” 4 The roots of this “war” are found in the differing legal approaches to information privacy in the two jurisdictions. There has also been a longstanding debate in the EU about whether U.S. law provides sufficient protections for the personal information of EU citizens when U.S companies and public authorities collect and process it. 5 This policy debate has been accompanied by the EU setting strict limits * Jefferson E. Peyser Professor of Law at UC Berkeley School of Law; Director, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology. The authors would like to thank the Thyssen Foundation for their support of this Article. ** Professor of Law, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany; Director, Institute for Media Law and Communications Law. 1 Penny Pritzker & Andrus Ansip, Making a Difference to the World’s Digital Economy, U.S. DEP’T OF COM. (Mar. 11, 2016), https://www.commerce.gov/news/blog/2016/03/making-difference-worlds- digital-economy-transatlantic-partnership. 2 Commission Staff Working Document on the Free Flow of Data and Emerging Issues of the European Data Economy, SWD (2017) 2 final (Jan. 10, 2017). 3 Robert Levine, Behind the European Privacy Ruling That’s Confounding Silicon Valley, N.Y. TIMES (Oct. 9, 2015), https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/business/international/behind-the-european-privacy- ruling-thats-confounding-silicon-valley.html?_r=0. 4 Henry Farrell & Abraham Newman, The Transatlantic Data War, FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Feb. 2016), https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2015-12-14/transatlantic-data-war. 5 Paul M. Schwartz, European Data Protection Law and Restrictions on International Data Flows , 80 IOWA L. REV. 471 (1995).
Structuring International Data Privacy Law
Jul 05, 2023
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Related Documents
