Secret courts are multiplying. We have had a secret court in the FISA Court. Subpeonas can be issued without any public notice and with restrictions that prevent those subpoenaed from disclosing the existence of such a subpoena. Now the Biden administration is operating a new secret court.
Politico notes:
Officially known as the Data Protection Review Court, it was authorized in an October 2022 executive order to fix a collision of European and American law that had been blocking the lucrative flow of consumer data between American and European companies for three years.
The court’s eight judges were named last November, including former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Its existence has allowed companies to resume the lucrative transatlantic data trade with the blessing of EU officials.
The details get blurry after that.
The court’s location is a secret, and the Department of Justice will not say if it has taken a case yet, or when it will. Though the court has a clear mandate — ensuring Europeans their privacy rights under U.S. law — its decisions will also be kept a secret, from both the EU residents petitioning the court and the federal agencies tasked with following the law. Plaintiffs are not allowed to appear in person and are represented by a special advocate, appointed by the U.S. attorney general.
I think some insights by JFK as President are appropriate here.
“The very word “secrecy” is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it.
Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it.
And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control.”
This appears to be a way for the EU to say that they have responded to the concerns of Europeans without actually doing so. It is little different from the previous attempt to do so that was struck down by EU courts.
This is big companies doing what they want while paying lip service to the rights of the citizens of the world.
How long will it be before another secret court is convened to address mis-information and dis-information which is the #1 priority of the Davos crowd?