Three insiders say otherwise Reuters. Until Brexit, user data in the UK was protected by the GDPR privacy law, the most comprehensive privacy regulation in the world. If the sensitive information of millions of British citizens were transferred to the US, it could be accessed more easily by British authorities.

Trading data

Until now, UK data was stored in Ireland, where Google, like many American tech companies, has its European headquarters. Google will remove data from Ireland as it is unclear whether the UK will continue to implement GDPR or develop other privacy rules.

The UK and US are discussing a new trade agreement, as the UK is already on its own. Access to British citizens’ data stored in America could be a point of negotiation. In contrast to the EU, the US is one of the countries with the weakest protection of citizens’ privacy. The UK government will have easier access to its citizens’ data compared to GDPR.

‘No surprises’

Google did not want to comment on the rumors to Reuters. However, an employee involved said anonymously that GDPR will continue to apply to UK data for now, even if the data is stored in the US. The UK still applies this rule, but the country is free to ignore it at any time.

It’s no surprise that Google is moving UK data out of EU countries, said Lea Kissner, Google’s former head of global privacy technology. “Never underestimate the desire of tech companies not to be squeezed between two governments,” Kissner said. Former Google employees point to rumors about trading access to UK data. “Storing that data in Ireland sounds really messy.”