Open Letter Calling for U.S. Government Surveillance Reform

Check out this website:

http://reformgovernmentsurveillance.com/


The website is an open letter from certain U.S. corporations calling for global government surveillance reform and state "The undersigned companies believe that it is time for the world’s governments to address the practices and laws regulating government surveillance of individuals and access to their information." Do you see what companies there are? - Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, AOL, Apple, Microsoft, Twitter, and Yahoo. We have seen a few of these companies in the news highlighting someone's concerns about the companies' lack of data protection or respect for individual privacy.

I am not here to knock their privacy practices. In fact, judging by the jobs either filled or recently opened for these companies to hire privacy professionals, it looks like they are trying to improve any alleged deficiencies (we won't discuss any enforcement action that may have been against any of these companies - we are looking forward, not back).

However, keep reading the page. The companies support five principles:
1.     Limiting Governments’ Authority to Collect Users’ Information;
2.     Oversight and Accountability;
3      Transparency About Government Demands;
4.     Respecting the Free Flow of Information; and
5.     Avoiding Conflicts Among Governments.

So this is all about former National Security Agen­­cy contractor Edward Snowden's surveillance and the European Union's reaction. These are global companies and do not want to suffer any potential repercussions due to the actions of the government. It is admirable for them publicly call for reform of government surveillance. Consider this quote from Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, which sums up the concerns nicely:

“Protecting the privacy of our users is incredibly important to Yahoo. Recent revelations about       government surveillance activities have shaken the trust of our users, and it is time for the United States government to act to restore the confidence of citizens around the world. Today we join our colleagues in the tech industry calling on the United States Congress to change surveillance laws in order to ensure transparency and accountability for government actions.”

I am particularly intrigued by the goal of enabling the free flow of information. Under this principle, the letter states that

"[t]he ability of data to flow or be accessed across borders is essential to a robust 21st century global economy. Governments should permit the transfer of data and should not inhibit access by companies or individuals to lawfully available information that is stored outside of the country. Governments should not require service providers to locate infrastructure within a country’s borders or operate locally."

Is this a denunciation of data protection laws of other nations that prohibit data on individuals to be exported out of the nation unless the data exporter has proper controls in place...or their governing nation has proper laws in place? The U.S. clearly does not have national data protection controls in place. The EU clearly prohibits data transfers without said proper controls in place (which there are more options than the governing law of the importing nation). This point segues nicely into the last principle of avoiding conflicts among governments.

Skeptics might say that the endeavor is merely to protect these companies.

So what? If the end result is that the U.S. congress passes legislation to protect information on individuals, are we not all better off?