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Cybersecurity & Standards, European Policy, Government Surveillance, Privacy & Data

EU and US Reach New Data-Sharing Agreement

Associated Press:

The European Union and the United States struck a deal Tuesday over data-sharing that will allow the likes of Facebook and Apple to continue sending people’s information across the Atlantic — but a legal challenge to the pact is widely anticipated.

The sides had been trying to forge an agreement since October, when Europe’s top court ruled against the previous pact — known as Safe Harbor — amid concerns that Europeans’ personal data stored by companies in the U.S. might be exposed to spying by U.S. intelligence agencies.

The Washington, D.C.-based Center for Democracy & Technology, which did a quick analysis of the announced framework, said in a statement that despite the framework’s improvement for EU citizens’ data privacy it would likely face trouble in court.

“Absent reform of U.S. surveillance law, it is highly unlikely that the Privacy Shield agreement will be deemed sufficient by the (European) Court of Justice,” said Jens-Henrik Jeppesen, the body’s director of European affairs.

He called on the U.S. Congress to swiftly move to reform its surveillance law and for EU member states to narrow their own surveillance laws and practices to also be more aligned with international human rights norms.

Full story here.