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4 Int'l Data Priv. L. 1 (2014)

handle is hein.journals/intldatpc4 and id is 1 raw text is: International Data Privacy Law, 2014, Vol. 4, No. 1 Systematic Government Access to Private-Sector Data Redux Christopher Kuner*, Fred H. Cate**, Christopher Millard**, and Dan Jerker B. Svantesson*** In November 2012 we published a symposium issue (volume 2, number 4 of IDPL') containing a series of papers analysing the laws and practices of nine countries (Australia, Canada, China, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, the UK, and the USA) relating to systematic government access to personal data held by the private sector. Those papers, developed as part of a multi-year project funded by The Privacy Projects-a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving current privacy policies, prac- tices and technologies through research, collaboration, and education2-demonstrated considerable consistency in the laws and practices of the nine countries examined. According to a guest editorial that accompanied the papers, common trends included: A 'significant expansion in government demands for private-sector data in general and for broad, systemat- ic access in particular, which the authors defined as both '(1) direct access by the government to private- sector databases, without the mediation or interaction of an employee or agent of the entity holding the data, and (2) 'government access, whether or not mediated by a company, to large volumes of private- sector data'? * A consistent lack of transparency about 'not only the activities, but even the laws concerning systematic access to government data'.4 * A 'surprising degree of commonality in the principles and fundamental concepts reflected in the data privacy laws of most of the countries surveyed' in- cluding the fact that 'data collection for law enforce- ment and national security are either exempted from general data protection laws or constitute permissible 1 2 3 Editor-in-chief, IDPL. Editor, IDPL. Managing Editor, IDPL. <http://idpl.oxfordjournals.org/content/2/4.toc>. <http://theprivacyprojects.org/>. Fred H. Cate, James X. Dempsey, and Ira S. Rubinstein, 'Guest Editorial: Systematic government access to private-sector data, (2012) 2/4 uses under those laws, subject to varying restrictions'. * Significant inconsistencies between 'what the law says and what the irrespective governments are reportedly doing'.6 * The prevalence of 'systematic volunteerism'-suggest- ing that 'the most frequent way that governments obtain systematic access to private-sector information is by asking for it'.7 Although published more than a year ago, those papers proved remarkably prescient in light of the subse- quent disclosures by Edward Snowden and others during the past year about sweeping surveillance pro- grammes in the United States and the United Kingdom. The programmes disclosed seemed to bear out the common themes previously identified, especially about the intensity of government demands for private-sector data, the lack of transparency about the surveillance, and the wide chasm between what the laws (and govern- ments) say and what really takes place. In this issue we publish four additional papers, de- scribing the laws and practices relating to systematic government access to private-sector data in Brazil, France, Italy, and the Republic of Korea. These papers grew out of the second phase of the project supported by The Privacy Projects and, like the first set of papers, these were reviewed at a workshop of industry and aca- demic experts prior to their publication here. These four papers evince similar themes to those identi- fied in 2012. The already broad requirements for industry systematically to disclose wholesale information on its cus- tomers and employees to support a wide variety of govern- ment programmes is being supplemented, and in some International Data Privacy Law 195, 197, available at <http://idpl. oxfordjournals.org/content/2/4/195.full.pdf+html>. 4 Id. at 197. 5 Id. 6 Id. at 198. 7 Id. C The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com 1

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