Privacy issues loom over EU-U.S. trade talks

Technology has complicated the very trade deal meant to revolutionize it.

Disclosures about the National Security Agency’s surveillance of European diplomats shrouded opening talks last week on a massive agreement between the European Union and United States that would redefine digital trade. While the revelations’ effects remain unclear, they have magnified privacy concerns and further politicized an already tense debate over information access and ownership. Negotiators now face an even knottier battle to reconcile the tech industry’s push for digital freedom with European desires for individual protections.