Software Giant Microsoft might unwittingly become instrumental in bringing about changes in the European Data Protection Laws to give it more teeth.
Last week in London, at the launch of Office 365, Microsoft UK chief executive Gordon Frazier admitted to ZDNet that Microsoft could not provide guarantees that EU based cloud data would not leave Europe under any circumstances, even under a Patriot Act request.
Frazier even went on to say that such a guarantee could not be given by any company.
Microsoft has admitted on record that the data which they sent was not protected under the EU law, the ball is now in the court of European legislators who have to focus on bolstering the existing EU law.
The European Union has been demanding that changes be implemented in the way data is sent to the United States from Europe amid conflicts between European Data Laws and the USA Patriot Act.
At a meeting of the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee, Dutch Member Sophia in ‘t Veld questioned whether the Patriot Act overrules the European Data Protection Laws, and whether the EU Data Protection Legislation can be adequately enforced.
One of the major considerations for the European members of parliament is to question the nullification of European data protection laws by the invoking of the Patriot Act.
Legal experts who spoke to IDG (International Data Group) said that the EU data protection legislation is ‘hardly worth the paper it is written on.’
The European commissioner charged with data protection said earlier this year that companies such as Microsoft, Google and Facebook must adhere to the strict EU privacy rules.
But as the Patriot Act overrules the European directive when data is on U.S. soil, regardless of whether the data is covered under the Safe Harbor framework, the “strict EU privacy rules” have no powers of protection.