Item — HN Reader

Couple clicks to get to the list so here it is. Not countries I usually associate with caring about privacy.

Algeria,Angola,Australia,Austria,Azerbaijan,Belarus,Belgium,Brazil,Brunei Darussalam,Burkina Faso,Cambodia,Chile,China,Costa Rica,Côte d'Ivoire,Cuba,Czech Republic,Democratic People's Republic of Korea,Democratic Republic of the Congo,Djibouti,Dominican Republic,Ecuador,Egypt,European Union,France,Ghana,Greece,Guinea-Bissau,Iran (Islamic Republic of),Ireland,Jamaica,Mozambique,Namibia,Nauru,Nicaragua,Nigeria,Palau,Papua New Guinea,Peru,Philippines,Poland,Portugal,Qatar,Russian Federation,Rwanda,Saudi Arabia,Slovakia,Slovenia,South Africa,Spain,Sri Lanka,State of Palestine,Sweden,Thailand,Togo,Türkiye,Uganda,United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,United Republic of Tanzania,Uruguay,Uzbekistan,Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of),Viet Nam,Zimbabwe

4 comments

Sweden, Uruguay and Portugal are on that list, to name a few more advanced countries. Seems like a pretty good list.

I wonder what countries you do associate with data privacy.

Clearly when one thinks of data privacy they think of China, Venezuela, Russia, Congo, DRPK, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, Belarus, etc etc etc

Ah -- sarcasm.

You're absolutely right. When thinking of data privacy people think of the USA, where you can be sent off to a gulag island if a random officer does not like what he sees on your personal phone -- which he is, of course, legally allowed to search for no good reason.

Can you share an example of a person being sent to gulag island because a random officer did not like what he saw on that person's personal phone?

I am curious about which countries do you associate with privacy.

> curious about which countries do you associate with privacy

Estonia, Iceland, Switzerland, the Nordic countries and America.

America? The one with all the spying, NSA, Patriot Act, this America?

> America? The one with all the spying, NSA, Patriot Act, this America?

Yes. We do all of that. But so does practically everyone else. The difference is our federal structure and--until recently--independent courts provided a bit more oversight than other countries' citizens had access to. And we've had--until recently--respect for privacy held deeply enough by enough people that it turns into a stink at the federal level in at least some respect.

Most countries have national logging requirements, disclosure requirements and domestic police with the powers of the NSA. (America remains one of the few countries in which one can form a legal entity with zero identification.)

Obviously if this agreement conflicts with the patriot act, it’s unpatriotic and America is right not to sign it.

The typical answer to this would be places like Switzerland, Germany and the Cayman Islands.

> Not countries I usually associate with caring about privacy.

Well, people should start accepting new norms that are different from what they used to know, not just data privacy, but even in other values as well, like personal freedom. I am sure some of the countries above have more personal freedom for a person compared to countries that lecture others about it, meanwhile the individuals get tracked by their phone through cell towers, get tracked while on the road by some unregulated cameras, get tracked online with digital ID, get tracked everywhere and if you end up getting caught and prosecuted, you will lose your basic human needs like getting a job or even voting in the so called free countries.

You are dead wrong about Brazil, our legislation about online privacy is pretty advanced. The European Union is not a country but has pretty solid legislation as well. Other South American countries on the list are pretty good as well.

You seem to be making a blanket statement about “not the first country I think about when…” of places you know nothing about.