In a conference call hosted by U.S. Ambassador Philip Verveer, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Bruce Swartz noted that “Cloud computing has important advantages to consumers (but) doesn’t present any issues that have not always been present. Certainly not regarding Internet service issues, but even before that.”
Concern about the way U.S. law enforcement obtains information about private citizens of the EU has been roiling in Europe for several months. Network World reported last fall that Patriot Act provisions could have the Dutch government cold-shouldering American cloud services vendors trying to bid on its contracts, because U.S. law enforcement can compel those vendors to release information on Dutch citizens to them. The European Parliament is also debating the Patriot Act’s effect on its own data privacy laws.