Extract from second
reading debate (Lords) of the Data Protection Bill
(LD):...A week
today, on 17 October, the Royal Society of Arts will host a
discussion entitled “The Existential Threat of Big Tech”. The
promotion for this event says:
“The early 21st century has seen a revolution in terms of who
controls knowledge and information. This rapid change has
profound consequences for the way we think. Within a few short
decades the world has rushed to embrace the products and services
of four giant corporations: Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Google. But at
what cost?”...
(Non-Afl):...My Lords, the Data Protection Act was
introduced in 1998. In those days, Facebook, Google and Uber did
not exist, Amazon was barely four years
old, Apple was tottering under the imminent threat of bankruptcy,
search engines were rudimentary, as was the internet itself, and it
would be another nine years until the iPhone would be launched. It
was, indeed, a very different world. While I welcome the Bill, it
remains a fact that when it becomes an Act next year it will be 20
years since its predecessor was enacted. Information and digital
technology are growing exponentially. No other industry in the
history of the world has even come close to this rate of growth.
Legislation needs to match and anticipate the speed of these
developments. Certainly, we cannot wait until 2037 for the next
Data Protection Act...
...I see this as typical big tech behaviour. These companies run
the world according to their rules, not ours. I have long
campaigned against the cavalier approach of big tech companies in
all aspects of business and personal life. These include
Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Google and, of course,
Apple. I was going to make some quip about the west-coast climate
and the breezes of the west coast, but I guess with the news of
the past two days that is probably not a good thing to be doing.
Big tech companies have become mega-libertarians, positioning
themselves above Governments and other regulators. They say they
are good citizens and abide by the law. They have corporate
mantras which say, “Do no evil”, but they stash away hundreds of
billions of stateless, untaxed dollars. They promote end-to-end
encryption. They are disingenuous when foreign Governments try to
influence democratic elections. Perhaps they do no evil, but
neither are they the model citizens they say they are.
So full marks to EU Commissioner for bringing Apple,
Google and Amazon to task, and full marks to
President Macron for his efforts to set up an EU-wide
equalisation tax to ensure that corporation tax is based on
revenue, not creative accounting. I know that this is a DCMS Bill
and international taxation is outside the Minister’s brief, but I
have heard the Prime Minister criticise these tax dodges by big
tech so I ask him or his colleagues in the Treasury: will the
Government support the French President in this campaign?
To read the whole debate, CLICK
HERE
Extract from
Westminster Hall debate on Leaving the EU: Consumer
Protection
(Makerfield)
(Lab):...We need a real commitment to putting the
consumer at the heart of the Brexit negotiations. That commitment
is all the more necessary because it is a question not just of
domestic rights, but of international ones, as we have heard. The
critical issue for many consumers is how they will be protected
when they buy goods from the EU, as they often do when they use
internet sites such as Amazon—the 1974 protection is outdated
on the credit card rule for internet purchases—or when they are
travelling or holidaying abroad and want to hire a car or rent a
hotel room...
To read the whole debate, CLICK
HERE
