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Edward Snowden fallout fueling 'balkanisation' of internet in EU and data mistrust, says Baroness Sarah Ludford

By Angela Haggerty, Reporter

August 28, 2014 | 3 min read

The aftermath of the Edward Snowden revelations on state surveillance has left an air of suspicion in the European parliament that could hinder progress on digital development, according to Baroness Sarah Ludford.

Speaking at an Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) event yesterday afternoon on reforms to EU data protection legislation, Baroness Ludford – who served as a Liberal Democrat MEP until 2014 and was a negotiator on EU data protection regulation –warned that a “balkanisation” of the internet and growing mistrust around data, both from consumers and governments, was a growing problem.

“The climate around data protection will continue to be seriously affected by the Snowden fallout,” she said. “I think there are worrying signs of balkanisation of the internet and protectionism. We see it in Germany as well as Brazil, attempts to create some sort of home-grown cloud.

“There’s a pirate party-type influence that really worries me. Some fringe Greens shade off into the pirate, shade off into the hacktivists.

“You can feel this in the parliament, and this balkanisation of the internet, this anti-transatlantic agreement. It’s all becoming quite narrow-minded and becoming anti-corporate, anti-business.”

She went on to say that uncertainty of the UK’s future in the EU made the country look “unreliable” and said Ukip was a “waste of space” in the European parliament and had no policies to help advance the UK’s digital economy at a European level.

“Ukip is a waste of space,” she said. “They don’t do any work in the European parliament. Whatever you think of their politics or attitude towards the EU, they’re just not workhorses.

“As for the UK, I’m very worried that the Tory-led policy of calling a referendum in 2017 is making people wary of the UK because we’re seen as unreliable.”

Baroness Ludford added that her involvement in negotiations around EU data protection legislation had made her a target for activists and she had become a victim of stalking and DoS attacks on her website.

“I only mention that to show how controversial this is. Somewhere out there in the hacktivist community my name is mud, and frankly it enrages me, all I was doing was my legislative job,” she said.

Balkanisation refers to the process of fragmentation of a region or state into smaller regions or states, that are often hostile to each other.

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