Europe’s response to U.S. surveillance is hopeful rather than harsh

[Commentary] The European Commission has laid out plans for “rebuilding trust” in the EU’s data-sharing agreements with the United States, following Edward Snowden’s revelations of mass surveillance by the National Security Agency and its British counterpart, GCHQ.

It so happens that the US and EU have been negotiating an “umbrella agreement” about data transfer and national security for the last three years. Even though this agreement won’t have much legal power -- EU member states have total control over their own national security -- the Commission reckons it’s a good place to base new rights for EU citizens when it comes to privacy under US law. Currently, those outside the US have no privacy rights under US law; the Commission wants to bring in “the right to judicial redress,” and it wants the issue sorted out by summer 2014. And what about US companies that find themselves in a bind when it comes to demands by US authorities for EU citizens’ data? The Commission suggested the existing EU-US Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) agreement could provide the fix: “If US authorities circumvent the Mutual Legal Assistance agreement and access data directly (through companies) for criminal investigations, they expose companies operating on both sides of the Atlantic to significant legal risks."

(Nov 27)