Privacy in Non-US Social Networks

When I expressed my leeriness about using foreign-based social networking sites and applications, you may wonder why. Most, if not all of these web sites have privacy statements, some with great detail, some just "we protect your privacy" at the bottom of a page. Being in the US, my expectations are that my private data will be protected and that if for some reason it is lost, stolen, or misused, that I may have legal recourse. Okay, I know, fat chance, but at least there is a chance. Patriot Act and FISA courts not withstanding, for the most part, we do have protection.

The clause in most privacy statements that cause me the most heartburn is this one, taken from a unnamed social web site:

Disclosures Required by Law: We reserve the right to disclose your personally identifiable information when we believe in good faith that an applicable law, regulation, or legal process requires it, or when we believe disclosure is necessary to protect or enforce our rights or the rights of another user.

Sounds fair, right? You would want to be protected from whatever. The phrase that concerns me is the applicable law, regulation, or legal process one. In the US, it would be state and/or federal law and the privacy statement would say what state has jurisdiction in its matters. And that is why I always check where the web site is hosted and the company is located.

The problem with this particular privacy statement is that the web site and its company are located in Mainland China. Yes, those friendly folks who brought you the Tiananmen Square massacre, harsh treatment of practitioners of feng shui, and persecution of the Tibetan followers of the Dalai Lama. So, you think that since they are hosting the Olympics that all is changed? No censorship? No theft of your personal data? In a perfect world, we wouldn't have to worry. Since we don't live in one, we even have to worry in the US.