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> European countries suck completely on their own. There are people in jail without due process, we have histories full of systematic abuse of children/people with disabilities in care units, blatant disregard for constitutional rights by executive forces and you have these cases like this surfacing every other week.

This is kind of besides the point though right. If you think EU nations already have serious issues why would you then also export personal data to another nation that has those same issues and worse?

There is a clear difference between a local system that has access to your data, and a foreign one. You have no way to vote the foreign entity out of power, and have no say over what they are doing with your data

in the EU you have no way to vote for things to change either

The EU Council is made up of delegates elected from member states. The EU Parliament is directly elected.

Just because countries keep electing people with variations of the same policies doesn't make it unelected.

It's ok to be angry, but this is just wrong.

Of course we do. Is it easy? No, because no party runs on it. Just like it’s not easy for Americans to vote to change either.

Yes you do. I elected my European member of parliament, and I elected my EU councillor. The elected EU councillors select the commissioner, a bureaucrat, and the elected parliament can block anything the commission puts to a vote. That’s two elected offices, and one bureaucrat that’s appointed, but can’t act without consent of the elected officer. Just like many other democracies around the world. It’s democracy, just with some responsibility delegated to bureaucrats, who can still be overridden or removed by elected representatives. What’s so hard for you to understand about that?

>There is a clear difference between a local system that has access to your data, and a foreign one. You have no way to vote the foreign entity out of power, and have no say over what they are doing with your data

On the flip side foreign entities mostly won't ruin your life over petty deviance or find a way to predate upon you like local ones will because the foreign institution cannot project violence into your jurisdiction cheaply and without opposition the way the local one can. If I could choose who got access to the exclusion of the other it would be the foreign power every single time.

I know this wasn't what you were getting at but it's worth looking at the other side of the coin too seeing as voting barely grants us any power over how local entities use our data.

> have no say over what they are doing with your data

It seems like you already have no say over what they're doing with your data, and they're selling it to the US.

We (Europeans) have a say, there are mechanisms to block the EU council, such as European courts. We also have representatives that we elect. We don’t have similar things for the US

Given the recent chat control disaster I'd say our say is rather slim when it matters. Just put a decision into urgency mode (even though technically that's only allowed for the first hearing) and let it be a default pass unless two thirds reject the proposition. If it hits the courtrooms, rewrite it a little bit and effectively keep the status quo.

I might be misinformed, but I believe that American citizens have a way of forcing specific regulation instead of only forcing it to be considered. That would be something we don't have in the EU. So in the end it might just even out in that regard.

Yes there is a difference: For the average no name individual, the local authorities are a much bigger threat.

The data in the hands of officials in your jurisdiction is far more relevant than the other way around and there is little control about the data for domestic usage.

> There is no leverage so I fail to see how this could succeed.

Isn't there upside to the US too if more Europeans visit the US?

Exactly, and of course the EU can (and should) also reciprocate and apply the same restrictions to US travellers. There kind of visa-free agreements existed in the first place because they interest both countries involved.

Everyone needs an enemy to cope with their own flaws.

If you're really planning on kicking some official's ass, you'd better do it quick before your feet are shackled.