EU-US Data transfers: Ireland asks Europe's top court to rule on EU-U.S. data transfers - by Conor Humphries

Ireland A Proud Member Of The EU

Ireland’s High Court on Tuesday said it would ask the EU’s top court to decide whether to ban the way in which Internet firms such as Facebook (FB.O) transfer users’ data to the United States in a case with major implications for companies.

The case is the latest to question whether methods used by large tech firms such as Google (GOOGL.O) and Apple (AAPL.O) to transfer data outside the 28-nation European Union give EU consumers sufficient protection from U.S. surveillance. 

Data privacy is under the spotlight after revelations in 2013 by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden of mass U.S. surveillance caused political outrage in Europe. 

Irish High Court Judge Caroline Costello said she had decided to ask the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling in the case. 

“European Union law guarantees a high level of protection to EU citizens ... they are entitled to an equivalent high level of protection when their data is transferred outside of the European Economic Area,” she said.

The Irish Data Protection Commissioner’s office initially became involved after Austrian law student and privacy activist Max Schrems made a complaint in Dublin about Facebook’s handling of his data in the United States. 

The judge said the Irish Data Protection Commissioner “has raised well-founded concerns that there is an absence of an effective remedy in U.S. law compatible with the requirements of Article 47 of the Charter (of Fundamental Rights).” 

She said that a newly created U.S. ombuds person dealing with Europeans’ complaints about U.S. surveillance did not eliminate those concerns. 

Costello also said she was not delivering any value judgment on the data protection laws in the EU or United States.

Note EU-Digest: Facebook and other US social media companies don't seem to take EU Privacy laws serious. Facebook was recently fined by Spain for €1.2m for breaking privacy laws. Facebook, Google, Twitter, and other US web companies have been told tthat the weak US privacy Laws are not applicable in the EU, and a;so ordered  to crack down on hate speech and speech inciting violence and terrorism — but this time, the EU is taking things a step further. The European Commission has issued guidelines for web companies to follow, and it’s warning the companies that, if they don’t comply, this could lead to some huge fines. 

Read more: Ireland asks Europe's top court to rule on EU-U.S. data transfers

PRIVACY RIGHTS EU CITIZENS IN JEOPARDY: Trump order strips privacy rights from non-U.S. citizens, could nix EU-US data flows | TechCrunch

An Executive Order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump in his first few days in office could jeopardize a six-month-old data transfer framework that enables EU citizens’ personal data to flow to the U.S. for processing — with the promise of ‘essentially equivalent’ privacy protection once it gets there.

Close to 1,500 companies have signed up to the framework so far, which only got up and running in August, following a multi-year negotiation process.

MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on data protection regulation, tweeted earlier today suggesting that Trump’s presidential order, signed yesterday, might invalidate Privacy Shield.

A member of the EU parliament reacted as follows: "If this is true the EU Commission must immediately suspend the Privacy Shield agreement it has with the US"

Read more: Trump order strips privacy rights from non-U.S. citizens, could nix EU-US data flows | TechCrunch

Internet: EU lawmakers fight cries of ‘digital protectionism - by Adam Sneed

As Europe’s digital chief heads stateside today, a coalition of EU lawmakers is speaking out against accusations that their continent is engaging in “digital protectionism.” Those claims have come from a number of American officials and executives — including President Barack Obama — in light of Europe’s efforts to unify its digital market as well as regulatory actions against Apple, Google, Amazon and others.

“As Members of European Parliament we are surprised and concerned about the strong statements coming from U.S. sources about regulatory and legislative proposals on the digital agenda for the EU,” they write in a statement to be released today, signed by more than 50 lawmakers. “The political debates on the way forward are not a 'Transatlantic rift' and should not be made into one. Rather they represent different views and beliefs that run right through our societies. We consider close cooperation between the EU and the U.S. as vital in a changing world.”

EU commissioner for digital affairs, told The Wall Street Journal over the weekend. He’s starting a U.S. trip today to meet with government officials and Silicon Valley executives, including Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, where he’ll try to ease concerns that the EU’s actions are targeting the American tech sector (http://on.wsj.com/1Fbpbrw). Oettinger is scheduled to speak more on the subject Thursday morning at the Center for Transatlantic Relations

Read more: EU lawmakers fight cries of ‘digital protectionism - POLI

Personal Privacy Rights Google Target of European Backlash on U.S. Tech Dominance - by Danny Hakim

A top German official called for Google to be broken up. A French minister pronounced the company a threat to his country’s sovereignty. A European publishing executive likened it to a Wagnerian dragon.

Across Europe, Google has been under fire, reflecting the broader challenges facing American technology companies. Google, fairly or not, has become a glaring proxy for criticism of an intrusive American government and concern over America’s unmatched technology dominance.

On Monday, things grew worse. Regulators pushed the company to give up more in an antitrust settlement — demanding that Google make additional changes to its secret sauce, the search algorithm.

When Google initially settled with regulators in February, it emerged largely unscathed, agreeing to make modest adjustments to its search formula and avoiding a fine. Now, the deal is in jeopardy. If Google
does not acquiesce, regulators could toss out the settlement and bring formal charges, which could prompt billions of dollars in penalties and major changes to its operations.

Read more: Google Is Target of European Backlash on U.S. Tech Dominance - NYTimes.com

Privacy:: Who owns your personal data?- by John Drescher

Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency leaker, spent his early childhood in the 1980s and early 1990s in Elizabeth City in northeastern North Carolina, where both his parents grew up. No one in Elizabeth City could have imagined that young Snowden, who was born in 1983, someday would be well-known on the other side of the world.

But he is, as I and a group of U.S. journalists discovered last week while traveling across Germany. Snowden, a former NSA contractor, last year leaked information that showed the NSA had eavesdropped on Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone calls.

Germans know all about Snowden, who is ensconced in Russia. Germans were --- and are --- outraged that the U.S. was spying on their chancellor. That anger permeates their culture and sometimes comes with a sharp sense of humor. The German rapper MoTrip sings, " Good morning, NSA, have you already checked my Facebook account today? ... Today I'm naked but you know it already."

Snowden's revelations were big news in the U.S. last summer, but that news has faded. Not in Europe. The Bundestag, Germany's Parliament, has formed a committee to investigate Snowden's leaks. Some want Snowden to travel to Berlin to testify. The committee's work began in earnest last week, driving public interest in Snowden even higher.

"A year ago, topics such as mass surveillance, encryption and cybersecurity used to be discussed by geeks only," committee member Christian Flisek said by email. "Today, the average German Internet user is afraid of being affected by mass surveillance."

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/05/16/3451727/opinion-drescher-who-owns-your.html#storylink=cpy

Read more: OPINION: Drescher: Who owns your personal data? | Region | The State

The Netherlands - NSA Spying: Home affairs minister Plasterk under fire over security service phone taps

Home affairs minister Ronald Plasterk and defence minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert were summoned by the prime minister on Wednesday night to explain the confusion over exactly who gathered information on 1.8 million phone calls and text messages.
The ministers told parliament yesterday the Dutch, not the American, secret services were responsible for monitoring the phone calls, and that the information had then been shared with the US authorities.
Parliament is due to debate the latest information next week. Opposition MPs want to know if Plasterk deliberately misinformed parliament last year when he stated NSA was behind the information gathering.
- See more at: http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2014/02/home_affairs_minister_under_fi.php#sthash.zysgQ1cf.dpuf

Ronald Plasterkerk and the NSA

Dutch Home affairs minister Ronald Plasterk and defence minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert were summoned by the prime minister on Wednesday night to explain the confusion over exactly who gathered information on 1.8 million phone calls and text messages.

The ministers told parliament yesterday the Dutch, not the American, secret services were responsible for monitoring the phone calls, and that the information had then been shared with the US authorities.

Parliament is due to debate the latest information next week. Opposition MPs want to know if Plasterk deliberately misinformed parliament last year when he stated NSA was behind the information gathering.

Plasterk said: 'The details were collected in the interest of counter-terrorism activities and military operations abroad,’ the briefing stated. The information was then ‘shared with the US’.

Note EU-Digest: The question that needs to be asked in the Dutch Parliament is - "who requested the info in the first place and if it was the NSA why were Dutch citizen privacy rights breached and why was this information given so freely to this US spy agency ? "

Read more: DutchNews.nl - Home affairs minister under fire over security service phone taps

Germany: Obama invites German chancellor Merkel to Washington following NSA spying flap

President Barack Obama invited German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Washington, hoping to mend fences after a row provoked by revelations of US eavesdropping on her cellphone.

Obama called Merkel to wish her a speedy recovery after her recent skiing injury and invited her to visit at a “mutually agreeable time in the coming months,” the White House said in a statement.

Merkel last year reacted furiously to claims the National Security Agency had been listening in on her mobile, telling Obama in October that this would be a “breach of trust” between two allies.

" A nice gesture said a German Bundestag member, but as long as the NSA spying practices on Allies and friends of the US don't get cleaned up its all fluff. "  

 EU-Digest

NSA Surveillance EU Citizens: NSA's goal is elimination of individual privacy worldwide

The NSA’s ultimate goal is to destroy individual privacy worldwide, working with its UK sidekick GCHQ, journalist Glenn Greenwald warned an EU inquiry, adding that they were far ahead of their rivals in their “ability to destroy privacy.”

Greenwald, the former Guardian journalist renowned for publishing Edward Snowden’s leaks, criticized EU governments’ muted response to the revelations about the NSA’s mass espionage. Most governments reacted with “apathy and indifference” to reports that ordinary citizens were being spied upon, Greenwald said, pointing out that EU politicians only took action when they discovered that they themselves were being targeted.

“I think western governments have inculcated people to accept that privacy does not really have much value,” said Greenwald, adding it was “to get populations accustomed to violations of their privacy.”
 
Greenwald testified before the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties and Home Affairs via a video link, contributing to an inquiry into the NSA’s surveillance on EU citizens.

Read more: NSA's goal is elimination of individual privacy worldwide - Greenwald to EU — RT News

France hits back at 'reactionary' claims

"Some say they belong to the left, but in fact they are culturally extremely reactionary," Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission said in an interview with the International Herald Tribune published on Monday.

That prompted Jean-Christophe Cambedelis, a national secretary of France's ruling party, to describe his remarks as "intolerable", saying he should "retract his comments or quit". A Commission spokesman said "there is no basic disagreement between the Commission and the French government on this question."

He also denied that Mr Barroso's criticism targeted France's Socialist government. Mr Barroso's unusually outspoken words followed a marathon round of difficult European Union talks on Friday after France held up agreement between the bloc's 27 trade ministers on the exact terms of the Commission's mandate to negotiate a EU-US trade deal.

After 13 hours, a compromise was finally reached agreeing to the French demand but which also stated that the Commission could come back on the question if necessary.

Note EU-Digest: maybe the trade deal negotiations between the EU and the US should be put on hold until their is more clarity as to the damage done to European Citizens Privacy Rights as a result of the PRISM issue . 

Read more: France hits back at 'reactionary' claims - Telegraph