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United Kingdom Google Privacy The Internet

Google Users In UK To Lose EU Data Protection: Reuters (reuters.com) 70

Sources told Reuters that Google is planning to move its British users' accounts out of the control of European Union privacy regulators, placing them under U.S. jurisdiction instead. From the report: The shift, prompted by Britain's exit from the EU, will leave the sensitive personal information of tens of millions with less protection and within easier reach of British law enforcement. The change was described to Reuters by three people familiar with its plans. Google intends to require its British users to acknowledge new terms of service including the new jurisdiction.

Ireland, where Google and other U.S. tech companies have their European headquarters, is staying in the EU, which has one of the world's most aggressive data protection rules, the General Data Protection Regulation. Google has decided to move its British users out of Irish jurisdiction because it is unclear whether Britain will follow GDPR or adopt other rules that could affect the handling of user data, the people said. If British Google users have their data kept in Ireland, it would be more difficult for British authorities to recover it in criminal investigations.

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Google Users In UK To Lose EU Data Protection: Reuters

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  • by Anonymous Coward

    North Ireland needs to join Ireland!

  • by jrumney ( 197329 ) on Wednesday February 19, 2020 @08:04PM (#59745338)

    But Colin voted for the Brexit that provided an extra £350m a week for the NHS.

    Not this Brexit that makes you wait in queues at the start of your mates stag night in Amsterdam, and tramples all over your privacy.

    • It is amazing how many people would trade sovereignty of their nation and their future just to avoid passport lines when they go on holiday. Pretty stupid, but that is how a lot of people think.

      • They wouldn't know what to do with real freedom anyway. I have a pet theory that WW1 and WW2 killed so many European men it permanently changed the character of Europe because only Euroweenies survived to breed. It is just a working theory at this time. Data is still being collected, starting by taking a close look at the women in Amsterdam.
        • "Data is still being collected, starting by taking a close look at the women in Amsterdam."

          Too many wearing burqas for my taste.

        • In fact, in the case of Britain, half of them didn't know what to do with the freedom to travel, to trade, to work, and to live their lives without being spied. That's why they voted for Brexit.
        • by Maritz ( 1829006 )
          I take it your name is intended to be hilariously ironic.
      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        It's amazing how many people think nationalism is a good idea.
        • It's amazing how many people think nationalism is a good idea.

          You can have nationalism or you can have imperialism. Pick one.

      • by serviscope_minor ( 664417 ) on Thursday February 20, 2020 @02:35AM (#59746038) Journal

        It's amazing how stupid people are about the idea of sovereignty in the first place.

        Texas, Alabama, etc are not sovereign nations. When they tried to leave people started shooting at them until they stopped. When the UK tried to leave, no shots were fired and we did. This proves beyond any doubt that we were always a sovereign nation, able to choose for ourselves.

        • by Kjella ( 173770 )

          Texas, Alabama, etc are not sovereign nations. When they tried to leave people started shooting at them until they stopped. When the UK tried to leave, no shots were fired and we did. This proves beyond any doubt that we were always a sovereign nation, able to choose for ourselves.

          The Soviet Union dissolved relatively peacefully, but the members were hardly sovereign nations. Lots of former colony states have left the British Empire without bloodshed. That the UK could leave peacefully is hardly the (non-)smoking gun you think it is. In particularly it's not a good indicator of where the EU is going. Already if the UK tried rejoining today they'd find that all the exceptions and abstentions they had are null and void - as a "new" EU member you either accept the full package or you do

          • The Soviet Union dissolved relatively peacefully, but the members were hardly sovereign nations.

            Peacefully? Are you serious?
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

          • Comment removed based on user account deletion
            • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

              Britain is going its own way and it's going to be fabulous. For example it will be able to support its own agriculture to promote environmental goods relevant to its own countryside, and to produce crops that reflect its own climate, rather than being forced to work with rules designed for growing conditions in central France.

              They'll have a huge advantage over the EU - the ability to set regulations for new sectors, the new ideas, and new conditions - quicker than the EU can, and based on sound science not

            • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

              The British Empire is a terrible comparison - if you'd tried to leave it prior to 1940 you would have had a war, after WW-II the Empire was wound down (mostly) peacefully

              The War of 1867 took such a terrible toll, to be honest.

              But FYI, Canada left the Empire in the mid-19th century. It's why there's the British North America Act which basically set out the Canadian constitution as a new independent nation.

              That's why there's a joke saying the Americans declared war to get independence, while Canadians polite

            • UK still has a piece of land (some islands actually) that the locals want it back and Britain is not refusing to return to them. Even conspiring with the US (wiki leaks has some interesting diplomatic cables about that).

              Even the UN and ICJ have ruled against the UK

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

              So I think as far as most of the world is concerned, they are still trying to be unwelcomed colonial masters in certain parts of the world, even now. The British Empire is still aro

          • by N1AK ( 864906 )

            Already if the UK tried rejoining today they'd find that all the exceptions and abstentions they had are null and void - as a "new" EU member you either accept the full package or you don't.

            Is there any evidence to back this statement up? It's easy to say that in theory that is the default position based on current policy, but the default position based on policy until quite recently was that there was no mechanism for leaving the EU so it would have been equally true to say it was impossible to leave the E

            • by Kjella ( 173770 )

              Well it's hard to give any solid proof of what would happen in a hypothetical, future situation where the UK wants back in. But the EU bureaucrats have spent the last 3-4 years discussing how a withdrawal would work. They'll now spend this year and probably a few more on a free trade agreement and the aftermath. I'm discounting any possibility they'll turn around now and never "properly" leave, I'm assuming they will want at least a few years on the singles market. If the UK after all that tried to apply fo

            • This is just the reformation over again.
        • Because calling people who disagree with you stupid is such a shining example of tolerance and understanding.

          Hey, how's that California secession thing going along? Remember that? What about Catalonia? Scotland? You know the one demanding a referendum - after Rejoiners spent the last 3 1/2 years telling us how referendums were illegitimate?

          Hey, remember when the Remain (as it was called at the time) campaign campaigned on a platform of redoing the vote because it didn't come out the right way, and was [dominiccummings.com]

          • Because calling people who disagree with you stupid is such a shining example of tolerance and understanding.

            wow what a special little snowflake you are! If people use words counter to well established meanings then they are either stupid or mendacious.

            [snip irrelevant ranting]

            WTF is your point?

            Hey, remember when the Remain (as it was called at the time) campaign campaigned on a platform of redoing the vote because it didn't come out the right way, and was going to add millions of non-British citizens to

        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          These days most of them seem to define sovereignty as getting to decide who fucks you with a rusty crowbar.

          The UK was protected by pooling its sovereignty with the EU. Now it's vulnerable and the vultures are already circling.

          • These days most of them seem to define sovereignty as getting to decide who fucks you with a rusty crowbar.

            Ah yes but that crowbar will be made from British steel in Scunthorpe. Now that we are out of the EU we no longer have the right to veto the EU from protecting our steel industry and can protect it ourselves! Sovereignty!

            • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

              I imagine when the Chinese offered to do HS2 for 1/20th the price we could do it ourselves they planned on using Chinese steel, so even the crowbar is on offer in this brave new world.

        • Your example isn't valid though it is a tricky problem that countries in the EU are now in the twilight zone between being independent nations and something else.

          This isn't speculation, it's explicit in the EU charter and from the words of those who proposed it what the EU tries to achieve and how. The EU attempts to dissolve nations ultimately into a single European nation consisting of states which may have some level of autonomy but which are not independent nations. It achieves this by eroding sovere
      • The problem with a revolt against imaginary oppression is that you end up with imaginary freedom.

      • by Maritz ( 1829006 )
        The only reason it seems stupid to you is that the argument is a really quite pathetic strawman. Try arguing with real points of view, and not being such an intellectually dishonest little child.
      • What sovereignty was traded? The very fact that the UK left the EU without starting a war in order to do so is irrefutable proof that the UK has sovereignty the entire time.

        • Independence does not mean a limited degree of freedom in return for accepting some of the norms of the central power. It means - independence - just that.
          • by N1AK ( 864906 )

            Independence does not mean a limited degree of freedom in return for accepting some of the norms of the central power. It means - independence - just that.

            Which is why the same people who argued for brexit moved straight on to campaigning to leave the UN and Nato which both require us to accept the norms of a central power right... no wait. Choosing to be part of Nato requires us to go to war even if we didn't want to, but somehow that's fine and having to limit toxins in paint etc because of the EU was jus

            • I recognize that one - that's the argument from neo-liberalism.

              There are other priorities for a country than maximize GDP growth at the cost of all other goals. Under this idea, anything which hinders maximal GDP growth rate is utterly evil and wrong, and that which maxes out that slider bar is obviously the correct way to go.

              It's wrongheaded, and ruthless, and has led countries to ruin before. Ask Russia of the 1990s how well neo-liberalism worked out for them. There are real humans in these systems,

      • It is amazing how many people would trade sovereignty of their nation

        You give up sovereignty with every trade deal and agreement you make. We're just exchanging an extremely beneficial set of rules with a less beneficial set.

        • LOL. Beneficial set of rules? The UK will be able to set its own rules. Watch the UK set its tax rates juuuust low enough to make it worthwhile to set up shop there instead of the innovation-hostile EU. Then cherry-pick the world's educated people while keeping out the stupids (UK has quite enough of them already and adding more would be a tragedy - no more grooming gangs) and just watch the future.

          The UK will be quick and nimble, able to fix problems that pop up, while the EU stumbles with its antiqu

          • by N1AK ( 864906 )

            UK has quite enough of them already and adding more would be a tragedy - no more grooming gangs

            This says enough about you're political mindset to explain plenty about your views. We get it, you're pissed they didn't invite you to join their gang but you can't base every political decision you make on trying to get back at them for it.

            • Gosh, who would have thought that being against raping children would be controversial. Do you work in Hollywood perchance? Or possibly Washington DC?
              • No one has a problem preventing child rape. They do have a problem when it's only rape done by Muslim rape gangs and you completely ignore the ones done by white members of various hard right parties. It's almost like your problem isn't child rape but brownness.
                • When were the right wing child rape gangs? Come off it, accusing people of racism? That's so cliche. And it's pure whataboutism. Just can't bring yourself to condemn child rape as long as it's your buddies the Muslims. The ones who would happily throw you off buildings and cheer when you hit the ground.
          • The UK will be able to set its own rules.

            No, we really won't. You don't understand how trade agreements works, do you?

            • by Jamu ( 852752 )
              You mean we'll have to follow EU rules to sell stuff in the EU? It's a shame we don't have any say in those. Maybe we can negotiate some trade deals though. Obviously we're just a small country, but if we joined a large trading bloc, we could probably get some good trade deals out of it. That negotiating power would be really handy when dealing with the US or China for example.
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Colin didn't vote to get rid of data protection rules either, but I suppose they have to go along with food standards so we can get a trade deal with the US.

  • ... so what happened here?

    Did Google lose sight of this once vaunted credo?

    Seems like the almighty buck is winning again, instead of doing good in the eyes of the users by adhering to more stringent (and welcome) protections for the privacy.

    Corporates do as corporate does I guess..

  • UK Law (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Paul King ( 2953311 ) on Thursday February 20, 2020 @02:13AM (#59746016)
    Doesn't make much sense to me, Google will need to be in line with whatever UK law succeeds GDPR. If US law is weaker (quite likely) then they won't be able to contract users out of the UK rights, same way they can't do that with GDPR protections. So they'll have to conform with the UK version. it's possible that the UK Law will have things in it which aren't compatible with GDPR, but if it doesn't, then they an just stay put.
    • UK already has GDPR, it came into force last April. And yes, current US law is much weaker.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      The UK will scrap privacy laws to get trade deals. The US will demand access to our data and we will have to give it to them.

      There is no need for a successor to GDPR anyway. EU rules don't work that way. Member states agree rules at the EU level but then implement them however they see fit in their own laws, i.e. the UK laws implementing it will not end unless parliament decides to scrap them.

  • So what bit of google account information do I need to update to a lie to make google think I'm Irish and leave my data in the EU?
    • Your IP address, and you need to the GPS chip in your devices to lie to the operating system. Also, never use Google Maps, it takes very few searches before they can guess your true location.

      Concealing your true location from the greatest snoop in the world? Good luck with that.

  • Get. Out.

    While you still can. It's only a matter of time before the Tories get into a full swing, updated, & equally depressing re-run of Britain in the 1980s: Racism, corruption, cronyism, mismanagement, violent uprisings

    • St Pauls riot, April 1980 St Pauls, Bristol
    • Brixton riot of 1981 London
    • Toxteth riots 1981 Liverpool
    • Moss Side riots 1981 Manchester
    • Chapeltown riot 1981 Leeds
    • Handsworth Riots 1981 Birmingham
    • Brixton riot of 1985, September 28 London
    • Second Handsworth riots 1985, September 11 Birmingham
    • Bro

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