I found a reference to a recent study by Galexia, an Australian consultancy, in Murray Long’s excellent Privacy Scan newsletter.
Cutting to the chase, the study finds that only 348 of 1,597 registered organizations complied with the basic requirements of the act. The study’s recommendations start with this paragraph:
“This study has found that there has been little improvement in either compliance or data quality since the negative 2002 and 2004 EU reviews of the Safe Harbor. Indeed, the growing number of false claims made by organisations regarding the Safe Harbor represent a new and significant privacy risk to consumers.
If the Safe Harbor is to operate effectively, an immediate program of improvements is required.”
This, it seems to me, is a much bigger risk than the Patriot Act boogey man so frequently brought out. The full text of the study can be found at http://www.galexia.com/public/research/assets/safe_harbor_fact_or_fiction_2008/safe_harbor_fact_or_fiction.pdf
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