~terry
Sat, Feb 21, 1998 (16:25)
seed
France has a tradition of centralization and state intervention in many
areas. It also has a strong tradition of protecting civil liberties and
individual rights. This panel will explain the French perspective on
balancing protection of civil rights, promotion of economic development,
and protection of public safety. The presentations will demonstrate these
features by looking at two areas of law: protection of privacy (secrecy
of correspondence and protection of personal data) and cryptography.
~terry
Wed, Mar 4, 1998 (07:11)
#1
Danielle Gallo:
Although many ideas and issues were raised in the panel on 'Privacy
and Encryption Law in France', there are only a few I would like to
touch on. Professor Joel Reidenberg of the Fordham University School
of Law (http://www.fordham.edu/law/faculty/reidenberg/main.htm) cited
the territorial impact of data protection. He suggested trans-border
data flows enable data passing to places with inferior
protection. This is of utmost concern to the French, who hold strong
views on privacy. The French position on data protection issues
prevents sensitive data such as political or religious beliefs to be
transmitted without consent. Reidenberg concedes that there is not
full respect for data privacy laws; therefore, organizations have been
created to supervise enforcement -- for example, the CNIL (Commission
Nationale Informatique et Libertes) in France. This part of the
discussion relates to Brian Kahin's keynote address, which cited the
need for international agreements and well-defined principles. I think
that compromise on these issues will be difficult because the French
are very stringent on privacy issues and may not agree with the rest
of the world.