The New York Times
has obtained a report showing that US and European negotiators are
nearing an agreement on international sharing of private data.
The United States and the European Union are nearing
completion of an agreement allowing law enforcement and security
agencies to obtain private information — like credit card transactions,
travel histories and Internet browsing habits — about people on the
other side of the Atlantic Ocean. […]Negotiators, who have been meeting since February 2007, have largely
agreed on draft language for 12 major issues central to a “binding
international agreement,” the report said. The pact would make clear
that it is lawful for European governments and companies to transfer
personal information to the United States, and vice versa.
The negotiators remain at odds on some issues, such as “what rights
European citizens will have if the United States government violates
data privacy rules or takes an adverse action against them — like
denying them entry into the country or placing them on a no-fly list —
based on incorrect personal information.”
It is unclear what standards both sides believe would adequately
protect individuals’ civil liberties, including free speech and the
right to travel.
David Sobel, a senior counsel with the Electronic
Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to data-privacy
rights, said the administration’s depiction of the process of
correcting mishandled data through agency procedures sounds “very
rosy,” but the reality is that it is often impossible, even for
American citizens, to win such a fight.
The full New York Times story is here.
This is what it means to be a European citizen, where your own Government no longer has the power to protect you, your privacy or your private data.
