It's interesting to see the regional differences in this discussion, because that attitude is pretty foreign to the way I think about the Internet.
I know that if I use Yandex, at least some of my data is going to reside in Russia. If Dailymotion, France. I consider it up to me as a consumer to decide whether that's what I really want. I don't consider it my local government's job to force those companies to change their business models.
I'm from EU and I don't like it. EU should offer standards of data protection that foreign companies could choose to adhere to, then those companies could advertise to EU citizens that they comply with said EU standards. Same penalties that exist or are proposed now could exist under that model. Maybe even incentivize adoption with modest taxes if you feel really statist. Then EU citizens can choose whether they value these protections or not. Personally, I don't care what Facebook does with data I provided them with freely, but for online purchases I would strongly favor companies who protected my data.
> I know that if I use Yandex, at least some of my data is going to reside in Russia. If Dailymotion, France. I consider it up to me as a consumer to decide whether that's what I really want. I don't consider it my local government's job to force those companies to change their business models.
This is a ridiculous position to take, because it requires a humanly impossible amount of research to know whether the privacy of your data is protected. And that's when the information is even available.
Privacy is a basic human right. When corporations collect your data it becomes the responsibility of those corporations to protect your privacy. Individuals simply do not have the resources to enforce this, which is why we elect people to enforce this. This isn't some crazy responsibility for governments: this is the fundamental reason why governments exists: to protect the interests of their citizens collectively when it's infeasible to protect those interests individually.
> This is a ridiculous position to take, because it requires a humanly impossible amount of research to know whether the privacy of your data is protected. And that's when the information is even available.
How about looking at this from another angle? Why the heck should your browser and Internet connection leak anything that allows to single you out as an individual to any corporation or individual in the world?
The focus should IMO be on providing secure tools to end users for browsing the web.
I come across this response quite frequently and I remain mystified why anyone would think that it's important or even a good idea for the millions of people interested in privacy to try to solve privacy issues from the same angle. Skillsets don't even fit for this: as a developer I am well-suited for working on network technologies that don't leak information about their users, but a lawyer for example is much better suited at changing legislation so corporations are responsible for protecting privacy. We don't need a "focus", we need everyone to use their skills to protect our right to privacy.
It is already an interesting experience trying to explain to off-shore companies that they cannot just take our data like that.
Well they can in practice, but then better prepare some good explanations in case the company gets a security audit from the local government.