FEB 19, 2020 | EUROPEAN UNION
Europe's Data Grab
Politico, February 19, 2020
By Vincent Manancourt
In a trend that has spooked Silicon Valley, senior EU officials are flirting with the idea of forcing companies to store and retain at least some of their data in Europe.
“It’s not in line with EU positioning,” Thomas Boué of the Microsoft-backed trade group the Software Alliance (BSA), said of potential moves to keep data stored in Europe.
The groundswell of support is increasingly putting the tech community on edge, including a newly formed lobby named the Global Data Alliance devoted to protecting free data flows.
According to Boué of BSA, which founded the lobby, comments by EU officials on data localization illustrate why the group is needed. Breton's comments "were not a deciding factor, but they show the alliance is important,” he said.
Original Posting: https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-data-grab-protection-privacy/
ABOUT BSA
The Business Software Alliance (www.bsa.org) is the global trade association of the enterprise software industry, representing companies that are leaders in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and other cutting-edge technologies. We work in over 20 markets in the US, Europe, and Asia, advocating for policies that build trust in technology so that every industry sector and the public can benefit from innovation. BSA also supports its members and their customers by raising awareness of the risks of unlicensed software use and the benefits of software asset management, driving license compliance and software adoption around the world through sound IT procurement.