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> Probably best case scenario, they're still giving them the data wholesale in some way, and he's playing word games and semantics. No, the best case scenario
by kahirsch 13y ago
> Probably best case scenario, they're still giving them the data wholesale in some way, and he's playing word games and semantics.
No, the best case scenario is he's telling the truth and Google only gives specific data in response to specific court orders that have been reviewed by their lawyers.
Normally I love reading the comments on HN, but I've just despaired over the last couple of days. People are assuming that out-of-context fragments from a Powerpoint presentation are 100% correct and when every single company gives a flat-out denial, then the companies must be lying or misleading or slippery.
The law does not require these companies to issue denials.
- anon1385 13y agoJust a reminder: we are not all US citizens. There is no American court order or warrant that makes it legal for Google Ireland to hand over data about EU customers to the US government. They have admitted to doing this already[1] years ago. It's likely illegal under data protection laws for EU businesses to use Google services (or any other US based web service) to store customer data. Google has sent us a statement that reads: "As a law abiding company, we comply with valid legal process, and that - as for any US based company - means the data stored outside of the U.S. may be subject to lawful access by the U.S. government." [1] http://news.softpedia.com/news/Google-Admits-Handing-over-European-User-Data-to-US-Intelligence-Agencies-215740.shtml http://news.softpedia.com/news/Google-Admits-Handing-over-Eu...