Online Privacy Could Spark US-EU Trade Rift

US technology titans have built up powerful positions in Europe by transforming everyday information about individuals into one of the world's hottest commodities: data on everything from where they click online to where they go in real life. Now Europeans are punching back.

In Europe, some politicians see personal data as a new natural resource from which European companies should profit. Others see privacy laws as a bulwark against tyranny. Both camps are reluctant to let US companies transfer personal information -- such as Web-browsing patterns or purchase histories -- without guarantees that the US will enforce the same privacy rules as the European Union does. "Europeans have a vivid experience of oppression," said Jan Philipp Albrecht, a Green Party member of the European Parliament and privacy advocate. "Every collection of a piece of data is a violation of a fundamental right, and must be justified." In the US, that position worries some businesses and politicians, who see data as more of a commercial question.