Responding to surveillance revelations, EU officials seek changes in commercial and law enforcement data sharing arrangements with america.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, is demanding that the usa respect the privacy rights of EU citizens and is looking for changes in its commercial and law enforcement data sharing arrangements with the united states to “restore trust.”
The Commission on Wednesday issued a methodology paper, an analysis of the Safe Harbor agreement that governs international commercial data flows, and an information Protection report, among other documents, in line with ongoing revelations about the level folks surveillance.
The latest such disclosure, that the NSA spied at the porn habits of “radicalizers” with a view to be discredited, was published late Tuesday by The Huffington Post, in accordance with documents provided by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden
“Massive spying on our citizens, companies and leaders is unacceptable,” said EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding in a press release. “Citizens on each side of the Atlantic should be reassured that their data is protected and corporations want to know existing agreements are respected and enforced.”
The Commission’s concern about lack of trust translates into potential lack of revenue. The data Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a Washington-based policy research group, projects US IT industry losses of $22 billion to $35 billion by 2016, because foreign businesses and governments fear having their data scoured by US intelligence agencies.
Add to that the knowledge that other government intelligence agencies are doing a similar thing, or at the very least attempting to, and the total premise of cloud computing crumbles. With no foundation of trust and a legal framework that exists in full public view and protects instead of yields, there is a strong impetus to prevent the cloud and rely only on internal corporate computing resources.
Though the ecu says the Safe Harbor agreement governing commercial data sharing “can not be maintained,” it doesn’t seem like threatening to rescind the agreement. Rather, it seeks to enhance it with stronger protections for EU citizens, principally a path for judicial redress. The united states Privacy Act of 1974 protects US citizens and legal permanent residents, but not EU citizens.
The Commission has made 13 recommendations about the way to improve Safe Harbor. The recommendations cover privacy dispute redress, privacy policy transparency, privacy enforcement mechanisms (like compliance audits), and limitations on exceptional access by US authorities (only when “strictly necessary or proportionate,” as though such assurances hadn’t already been offered).
Changes within the way data is handled and accessed within the EU and US is determined by the ecu data protection rules revisions currently before the ecu parliament and the united states review of national surveillance activities, either one of that are ongoing. US lawmakers continue to discuss whether and the way to reform NSA data collection.
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