International data wars are brewing: U.S. telecommunications deregulation, Third World protectionism, and European privacy regulations may complicate or curtail data flow across borders

Abstract

An `information war' could threaten the international telecommunications grid on which modern business depends for moving data around the world. Three areas of concern are: the extension of the deregulation of US domestic telecommunications in a way that affects the international network; protectionist policies, already growing in the trade of goods, could start to spill over into the exchange of information services; and the ratification by the Council of Europe, an organization of European States, of a treaty regulating privacy protection in the international exchange of information.