Can Ireland's Regulators Stand Up for Internet Privacy?

European regulators don’t always agree about what Net companies should do to protect the privacy of their users. Witness the uproar in Germany over Street View, a Google Maps feature that shows pictures of the buildings and scenery along roads. Google agreed to blur the houses of Germans who requested that their homes not be shown, delaying Street View’s launch. Elsewhere in Europe, Street View was largely unremarked upon.

In late January, the European Union proposed simplifying the patchwork of regulations by making each Web company responsible to a single regulator in an EU country where it processes data. For many major technology companies, that means Ireland. The island nation has spent decades wooing U.S.-based businesses with its low corporate tax rate and young, tech-savvy workforce. If the EU proposal is approved by its member countries—and that could take years—it would likely mean that Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner’s Office would oversee Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, and other technology companies with major operations in the Emerald Isle.