EU top court rules in favour of privacy activist

[webfact]

EU top court rules in favour of privacy activist
By Joanna GillFollow



STRASBOURG: -- The EU’s highest court has ruled in favour of an Austrian law student who claims that a trans-Atlantic data protection agreement doesn’t protect consumers, a victory for privacy campaigners and a potential blow to tech giants.

Max Schrems launched the legal challenge over concerns that Facebook could be sharing the private data of EU citizens with the US spy agency NSA following revelations from whistleblower Edward Snowden.

He originally lodged his complaint in Ireland, where Facebook has its European headquarters. Irish authorities rejected it, citing a 2000 decision by the European Commission that the US provides adequate data protection under the so-called Safe Harbour deal.

The implications of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling could be far-reaching, leading to more paperwork and driving up costs for firms transferring information from the EU to the US.

Safe harbour is not safe

MEP Claude Moraes welcomed the ECJ judgement and said the European Commission must now change its plans, and calls on the Commissioner to bring forward new plans on transferring data to make it safe.

-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2015-10-07

[webfact]

EU's highest court torpedoes US data deal over privacy fears



The EU’s highest court has struck down a data deal agreed with the United States.

Judges said the agreement did stop local authorities from checking that US companies were taking proper data protection measures.

The case was brought by an Austrian student, Max Schrems

“For years, the (European) Commission has just been watching. There were two or three years when ‘Safe Harbour’ could have been fixed. but it was always ‘Next month, next month, just not today’.”

The so-called Safe Harbour agreement helped major US firms transfer data from the EU by allowing them to self-regulate their own data protection procedures.

Companies such as Facebook deny any wrongdoing.

“We will come forward with clear guidance for national data-protection authorities on how to deal with data transfer requests to the US in the light of the ruling, as citizens need robust safe guards and businesses need legal certainty,” said Frans Timmermans, the vice-president of the European Commission.

The ruling means data can no longer be transferred to the US simply on the basis that the process has been Safe Harbour certified.

All parties will have to detail and agree the privacy obligations in advance, meaning potential delays and higher costs for businesses.

But some MEPs worry the judgement could let to a less open Internet.

“The risk is of course that companies are going to store their data only in Europe and we are going to kind of put a fence around the internet and around the cloud in Europe,” said Sophie Int’Veld, a Dutch Liberal parliamentarian.

“We don’t want that. We want innovation, we want the World Wide Web, but that can only take place if we know that our data are safe.”

The judgement by the European Court of Justice is final and cannot be appealed.


-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2015-10-07

[Expat1]

Outstanding. Way to go, kid.

[MockingJay]

Eyewash for the naive average reader. The NSA has gotten and always will get all data they need. Privacy my rectum!

[Srikcir]

A strange ruling from a legal viewpoint as it was not based on fact but on a presumption.

The court ruled that a trans-Atlantic data protection agreement doesn’t protect consumers because Facebook could be sharing the private data of EU citizens. There was no proof that Facebook actually share such data. Snowden only pointed to the possibility based on data sharing by other providers.

[hugh2121]

Eyewash for the naive average reader. The NSA has gotten and always will get all data they need. Privacy my rectum!

Maybe more people will sue them in EU courts now.