Iceland's history with Internet privacy and Internet freedom of expression is a topic considered of paramount importance. Since the turn of the century, Iceland has increasingly recognized the importance of freedom of expression on the Internet. For example, it has implemented strict data privacy rules to combat interference and has strictly enforced these rules in government to protect the privacy and rights of its people. Iceland, as a governing state, has even gone so far as to create and enact a law aptly titled “Law on the Protection of Privacy with Respect to the Processing of Personal Data” (Law No. 77 /2000), in which Iceland not only accepted the European Union's privacy regulations, which were undoubtedly considered much more advanced than those of the United States, but instead went further and obtained stricter data retention requirements. As a direct result, Iceland, as Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said, "has become a safe haven for press freedom," which only symbolizes the commitment of the Iceland in favor of the right to total privacy in this new era of the world.