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Politech is the oldest Internet resource devoted to politics and technology. Launched in 1994 by Declan McCullagh, the mailing list has chronicled the growing intersection of culture, technology, politics, and law. Since 2000, so has the Politech web site.
[With due respect to my friend Simon, this is one of the problems of relying on multinational bureaucracies to protect your privacy: You have to ensure that decent people run them. Expectations may not jibe with reality. Welcome to the world of public choice theory: http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/PublicChoiceTheory.html --Declan] -- Date: Tue, 27 May 2003 14:51:33 +0100 From: Simon Davies <s.g.davies@lse.ac.uk> Subject: dirty politics Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="============_-1158078995==_ma============" Hi folks, This is quite a crucial story. Would you be able to do something with it? Best wishes Simon PRIVACY INTERNATIONAL MEDIA RELEASE PRIVACY WATCHDOG CONDEMNS "SHAMEFUL" DEAL OVER NOMINATION FOR TOP EU POST EUROPEAN PRIVACY IS AT A CROSSROADS 27th May 2003 The global civil liberties watchdog Privacy International has strongly criticised the European Parliament over its decision to recommend the appointment of an "unknown" Spanish magistrate for the influential post of European Data Protection chief. In a secret ballot of the Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs of the EP on May 20, Joaquín Bayo Delgado was selected as primary candidate for the post of "Data Protection Supervisor" for Europe. The post carries extensive responsibilities, including oversight of the controversial Schengen Information System. Nearly all aspects of data protection will be under the aegis of the Supervisor. The vote followed more than three months' intensive lobbying by Bayo, the Spanish government and Spanish MEP's. His nomination was accelerated by a series of back-room deals amongst major EP parties, most of which were anxious to ensure that the "hard line" data protection lobby did not succeed in securing a candidate. Privacy International's Director, Simon Davies, said Joaquín Bayo Delgado was completely unknown to any privacy or data protection advocate in Europe. "To the best of our knowledge he has never written about the subject, nor spoken about it in any public presentation", said Mr Davies. "Privacy and Data Protection are complex issues requiring a high degree of sensitivity and wisdom. This deplorable deal has occurred at a moment when these rights are under unprecedented stress. The protection of privacy in Europe is at a crossroads, and this decision may well result in the loss of rights for all Europeans", he added. While Bayo's appointment is likely to be a "done deal" there is still a slim opportunity for it to be overturned. The Committee's chairman, Jorge Hernandez Mollar (Christian Democrats), will negotiate on his list of four finalists (Joaquín Bayo Delgado and the three runners-up) with the Council. Interestingly, the Council has drawn up its own list of finalists, which does not include Bayo but which does include the names of the other three candidates. The list will then be reduced to two names (one for Supervisor and one for Assistant Supervisor), to be put to the vote by the Citizens' Rights Committee on 2 June. Finally, the election of the two candidates must be endorsed by Parliament's Conference of Presidents. The "group of four" being presented to the Council contains individuals with the background, skills and motivation necessary for this important post. Privacy International urges the Council and the Committee on Citizens' Rights to overturn the nomination and to vote for a candidate who is capable of representing the rights and interests of European citizens. NOTES TO EDITORS References: EU Legislative Observatory http://wwwdb.europarl.eu.int/oeil/oeil_ViewDNL.ProcedureView?lang=2&procid=5467 EP News report - May 20 http://www2.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade2?SAME_LEVEL=1&LEVEL=3&NAV=X&PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT+PRESS+NR-20030520-1+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN#SECTION5 - Privacy International (PI) is a human rights group formed in 1990 as a watchdog on surveillance by governments and corporations. PI is based in London, and has an office in Washington, D.C. Together with members in 40 countries, PI has conducted campaigns throughout the world on issues ranging from wiretapping and national security activities, to ID cards, video surveillance, data matching, police information systems, and medical privacy, and works with a wide range of parliamentary and inter-governmental organisations such as the European Parliament, the House of Lords and UNESCO. - Simon Davies can be reached at simon@privacy.org and on 07958 466 552 (+44) 7958 466 552 from outside the UK. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ Like Politech? 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