A Dutch minister said on Wednesday that Europe is worried that some technology companies of the United States may not be taking the required proper steps to protect the personal info of its citizens. Netherlands’ minister of the interior and kingdom relations, Raymond Knops, said that it doesn’t mean that Europe and the U.S. headed for a digital war regarding ownership of customer data. Knops, the state secretary, took the ministerial charge from Kajsa Ollongren in this November. What anyone can observe that Europe is self-assured about how Dutch authorities handle their data along with the data of its citizens, Knops.

The previous year, the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union went into law, giving individuals extensive new powers for controlling their information, including the authority to demand firms tell them how that data used. Knops added, what we want to protect civilians data, not used too easily by private firms. Especially when there was no accord from these people handle this data. This week, Angela Merkel, a German Chancellor, urged Europe to take over its data from the United States tech giants. She said the EU should claim the privilege of digital sovereignty by developing its own tech products to manage information and reduce dependency on the likes of Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, the Financial Times reported.

European legislators to keep Major American Tech Firms under scrutiny

According to experts, European lawmakers expected to keep major tech firms of America under close scrutiny. When journalists asked about the possibility of digital isolationism, Knops pointed out that as a continent, Europe intensely depending on international trade. He said the last thing they would do is to isolate themselves, re-focusing the focus policymakers there have on caring user data. What they have observed during the previous ten years that several firms were not too careful while dealing with civilian’s data.

Furthermore, Knops explained that the governing authorities need to boost up their pace in keeping up the latest technologies that developed to regulate them in a better way. Not to break down developments, but just to put it on the right path. He was addressing the private firms’ trend such as Facebook, making efforts to launch new digital currencies as well as payments systems.

Knops explained that it’s not only the EU that making efforts to make a set of principles along with guidelines for governments and companies that deal with new technologies such as artificial intelligence. Moreover, other countries are also exploring these types of options. Knop said, in the event that tech firms of the United States fail to follow the established guidelines and principles, there should be a potential sequence.

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