US-EU data deal at risk in Facebook case judgment
US-EU data deal at risk in Facebook case judgment
By Danny Kemp
9 hours ago
Brussels (AFP) - The EU's top court is set to rule
Tuesday on a transatlantic data deal, relied on by companies such as Facebook,
a judgement that could see it declared invalid given spying revelations in the
Edward Snowden scandal.
The landmark case before the European Court of Justice in
Luxembourg stems from a complaint against social media giant Facebook lodged
against Irish authorities by Austrian law student Max Schrems.
The complaint focuses on the "Safe Harbour"
deal signed in 2000 between Brussels and Washington that allows data transfers
by thousands of businesses on the grounds that US laws offer similar protection
for data as those in the 28-nation European Union.
But the top legal counsel to the court said last month
the mass surveillance of data by the US revealed by former US intelligence
contractor and whistleblower Snowden means European citizens' privacy could no
longer be guaranteed by the agreement.
The court usually follows the advice of its
advocate-general when reaching its final decisions.
In case it agrees the deal is invalid, the European
Commission -- the executive arm of the EU -- is widely expected to announce the
imminent agreement of a new version of the Safe Harbour pact.
The United States fired back against the EU counsel's
position last week, saying it was based on "inaccurate assertions".
The case comes amid widespread tensions between Brussels
and Washington on issues of regulation, with several EU anti-trust probes
currently underway into US tech firms.
"The United States does not and has not engaged in
indiscriminate surveillance of anyone, including ordinary European
citizens," the US mission to Brussels said in a statement last week.
"We fully respect the European Union's legal
process; however, we believe that it is essential to comment in this instance
because the Advocate General's opinion rests on numerous inaccurate assertions
about intelligence practices of the United States."
- David and Goliath -
Schrems, a right-to-privacy campaigner in his native Austria,
filed the case against Ireland's data protection authority because Facebook's
European headquarters are based there.
Major US web giants including Facebook and Apple have set
up headquarters in Ireland to take advantage of favourable tax laws. Facebook
data is then transferred to servers in the United States.
The Austrian argues that the 15-year-old Safe Harbour
deal is too weak to guarantee the privacy of European residents in the wake of
details provided by Snowden.
Schrems is fighting the social network on several fronts
in what his supporters see as a fight of a European David against a US Silicon
Valley Goliath.
In July, an Austrian court rejected a class action case
brought by Schrems and 25,000 other Facebook users, citing insufficient legal
grounds.
Digital companies operating in Europe warned that the EU
court could severely disrupt the growth of the digital economy on the
continent.
However they say they hope the European Commission would
swiftly bring in a new Safe Harbour deal to minimise the problems.
Larger companies such as Facebook generally have separate
legal contracts drawn up on their data protection laws that permit them to
carry on operating in the event that agreements like Safe Harbour break down.
Snowden, who remains wanted by the United States and
currently lives in Moscow, opened a Twitter account this week, just days before
the judgement.
His revelations showed that the US National Security
Agency's PRISM programme used Silicon Valley giants Apple, Google and Facebook
to gather user data.
In the wake of the scandal, the EU and Washington began
talks to revamp Safe Harbour.
A European Commission spokesman said recently that they
were working "tirelessly" with Washington on final details and hoped
to reach a "positive conclusion" soon.
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