Why the US is about to open a Federal Privacy Office in Washington DC
 | Interview with: Philip L. Verveer |
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By Alia Papageorgiou
In a move that he calls “finally catching on to what Europe has been telling us, that Privacy online is important” the US’s Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and US Coordinator of International Communications and Information Policy Philip L. Verveer took a trip to Brussels, met with European Commissioner Viviane Reding, outlined how the US Commerce Department has started deliberating over a Federal Privacy office following nearly two decades of massive fines from the European Union for not upholding privacy of the individual online and spoke to Alia Papageorgiou on Internet Freedom, Facebook and Online Diplomacy.
Do you feel that there is any limit to internet freedom?“Well there are some limits there are some things that people in every country would find offensive and would try to prevent. In our case a really simple example is child pornography. No one will defend that and no one would say that there is any sort of an absolute human right or otherwise to purvey child pornography over the internet. Now in different countries the limits are somewhat varied, because of our first amendment we’re somewhat more tolerant of the conveyance of pornography than would be the case in any other countries where we have enormously shared values. So there are some points of differentiation.
In Europe, I think hate speech for instance would be largely prevented, in the United States we’re somewhat more willing to permit people to say things that are pretty vile and then try to counter what they’ve said with what we think are better ways of thinking about this. But, freedom on the internet and freedom of expression on the internet is not absolute, it is limited.”
In Europe, I think hate speech for instance would be largely prevented, in the United States we’re somewhat more willing to permit people to say things that are pretty vile and then try to counter what they’ve said with what we think are better ways of thinking about this. But, freedom on the internet and freedom of expression on the internet is not absolute, it is limited.”
What does online democracy offer to the diplomatic world and would you recommend it to the newly forming European External Action Service (the EU’s new Diplomatic Corps)?The internet is a wonderful mechanism for communication. The State Department is finding more and more ways to make use of it and diplomats have blogs, some of them use twitter, there are all kinds of transmission possibilities that are available to us, we put things on YouTube and so forth.
I think any diplomatic service is going to have to find ways to make use of some of this because part of what we do, part of what we’re trying to do is communicate with others and this is a very useful device, mechanism for that.
I genuinely think in some sense all diplomatic services will find that they’re making use of it.
I think any diplomatic service is going to have to find ways to make use of some of this because part of what we do, part of what we’re trying to do is communicate with others and this is a very useful device, mechanism for that.
I genuinely think in some sense all diplomatic services will find that they’re making use of it.
What seem to be the sticking points between the EU & the US on internet freedom?“Partly as Commissioner Reding was saying Privacy is a very important issue and its one where we and the Europeans approach it from somewhat different perspectives. I don’t think those differences are nearly as great as some people will try to make them but they’re somewhat different.
We have to try to bridge differences with respect to privacy protection. It’s important both for the sake of public privacy, we’d like to be sure we’ve found the best way to do that both for the people are in the US or here in Europe and we’d also like to do it to trying and make sure we’re not unnecessarily impairing efficiency, which is also what Commissioner Reding was saying which I welcome.”
We have to try to bridge differences with respect to privacy protection. It’s important both for the sake of public privacy, we’d like to be sure we’ve found the best way to do that both for the people are in the US or here in Europe and we’d also like to do it to trying and make sure we’re not unnecessarily impairing efficiency, which is also what Commissioner Reding was saying which I welcome.”
Is it surprising that Facebook has just hired their first employee in Brussels specifically to deal with European Policy?“No not at all, Facebook has grown so quickly, for a long time they didn’t have a presence in Washington, I think now it’s about six people but it’s a very recent development. They had literally either no one or almost no one until recently. But if you’re gonna do it in Washington then you better do it in Brussels, so I’m not surprised.”
At the same meeting Vice President of the European Commission and European Commissioner on Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship working on the Digital Agenda Viviane Reding described the differences between the US and the EU as “the US sees it as freedom of the internet and the EU sees it as freedom of the individual, perhaps between the two of us can be achieved a balance and therefore some global leadership on internet use and freedom.”
At the same meeting Vice President of the European Commission and European Commissioner on Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship working on the Digital Agenda Viviane Reding described the differences between the US and the EU as “the US sees it as freedom of the internet and the EU sees it as freedom of the individual, perhaps between the two of us can be achieved a balance and therefore some global leadership on internet use and freedom.”
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