How do we best control the flow of electronic information across sovereign borders?

When all is said and done, the United States must answer one basic question: How do we best control the flow of electronic information across sovereign borders? Essentially the question is one of power politics. Information is an entity which must be viewed as a form of power. When one considers that 50-60 percent of European domestic records are processed by American companies, 1 it becomes rather apparent that the United States subsequently exerts a great deal of power vis-a-vis Europe. Our "power," or ability to influence, does not end in Europe though, but extends rather significantly into the Third and Fourth Worlds as well, thus making our basic question a global one. Electronic technology, by providing the means to accumulate, store, change and transmit information on an unprecedented scale, 2 has recently emerged as an issue of great importance as well as controversy. The complex myriad of issues involves personal data, economic data, financial data, statistical data, etc. and affects our daily lives through television, telephones, satellites, etc. More specifically, electronic technology's uses can be seen today in the airlines reservations network (SITA), the international banking network (SWIFT), creditworthiness evaluation data bases usually situated in the United States, global satellites providing remote sensing, corporation electronic information systems used in management controls for production, marketing, personnel, capital expenses and investment. 3 These examples represent just a few of the controversial issues which governments are beginning to realize that they must confront. Confrontation has emerged as a necessity for one overriding reason directly related to the recent emergence of electronic technology. That one concern is economic power. Europe has recognized that the uncontrolled flow of data creates hardships for its economy. European political pundits are frightened by the prospect of being cut off from vital data that is stored in foreign data bases. Hence, advisers warn of the dangers of dependence and advocate the creation of domestic data bases. Europeans are quickly developing their own data processing capabilities, yet they remain still far behind the Americans for primarily economic rea-