The US "patchwork" is growing by leaps and bounds, and no "comprehensive
over-arching" statute is Constitutionally possible. Every business in America
has a broad range of privacy and data protection obligations which it must
observe, ranging from Federal law, to State law, to sectoral codes of conduct,
to obligations imposed by case law. The protections of this last category,
which inform and structure many business practices, and are the basis of
enormous amounts of business planning and relief to injured parties, is
ill-understood outside the United States. Many things are not done in this
country because there are "laws" which are not statutory, but derive from the
court cases.
Charles Raab wrote:
> Maurice Frankel's reply sums it up, and Andrew Charlesworth's gives some
> sources. The whole question whether the USA has 'adequate' data protection
> for transborder flow has been the subject of a long and difficult
> negotiation with the EU concerning the US Dept. of Commerce's 'Safe Harbor'
> proposal, which you can see at http://www.ita.doc.gov/td/ecom/menu.htm
>
> The USA has a patchwork of laws at federal and
> state level but nothing comprehensive, and particularly nothing
> comnprehensive for the private sector. The 'Safe Harbor' is based on
> developing a code of practice but the EU is by no means alone in finding it
> seriously deficient in crucial respects. You can track this down at
>
> http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg15/en/media/dataprot/news/index.htm
>
> I co-authored a report on a methodology for testing 'adequacy' in non-EU
> countries (including USA) which is available at
>
> http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg15/en/media/dataprot/studies/adequat.htm
>
> We looked at 6 non-EU countries in terms of typical flows of five types of
> data, ans assessed the laws, codes of practice, other rules, etc. (i.e.,
> what Article 25 of the Directive specifies as relevant to an assessment).
> The USA results weren't encouraging.
>
> Charles Raab
>
> >Is it always been reported that the USA does not have a data proteciton
> >act and with our new Act we may have problems for transborder flow with
> >the US.
> >
> >However the following two Acts have come to light and I would appreciate
> >your comments on their status etc and how they affect the UK.
> >
> >I extract from the web site :-
> >
> >http://www.foipa.com/
> >The Freedom of Information Act
> >Public Law No. 104-231, 110 Stat. 3048
> >
> >he Freedom of Information Act establishes
> >the right of the public
> >to obtain information
> >maintained by the federal or state
> >government and their agencies
> >
> >and
> >http://www.foipa.com/PAText.html
> >THE PRIVACY ACT OF 1974
> >
> >which has many familiar terms and definitions
> >
> >Thanks in advance
> >
> >Sally Justice
>
> Charles D. Raab
> Professor of Government
> Department of Politics
> The University of Edinburgh
> 31 Buccleuch Place
> Edinburgh EH8 9JT
> Scotland, UK
>
> tel: +44 (0)131-650 4243
> fax: +44 (0)131-650 6546
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
--
Charles A. Prescott
Vice President, International Business Development
and Government Affairs
Direct Marketing Association
1120 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
U.S.A.
Tel. (1) 212-790-1552
Fax. (1) 212-790-1499
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
website: www.the-dma.org
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