EU-US Data transfers: Ireland asks Europe's top court to rule on EU-U.S. data transfers - by Conor Humphries

Ireland A Proud Member Of The EU

Ireland’s High Court on Tuesday said it would ask the EU’s top court to decide whether to ban the way in which Internet firms such as Facebook (FB.O) transfer users’ data to the United States in a case with major implications for companies.

The case is the latest to question whether methods used by large tech firms such as Google (GOOGL.O) and Apple (AAPL.O) to transfer data outside the 28-nation European Union give EU consumers sufficient protection from U.S. surveillance. 

Data privacy is under the spotlight after revelations in 2013 by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden of mass U.S. surveillance caused political outrage in Europe. 

Irish High Court Judge Caroline Costello said she had decided to ask the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling in the case. 

“European Union law guarantees a high level of protection to EU citizens ... they are entitled to an equivalent high level of protection when their data is transferred outside of the European Economic Area,” she said.

The Irish Data Protection Commissioner’s office initially became involved after Austrian law student and privacy activist Max Schrems made a complaint in Dublin about Facebook’s handling of his data in the United States. 

The judge said the Irish Data Protection Commissioner “has raised well-founded concerns that there is an absence of an effective remedy in U.S. law compatible with the requirements of Article 47 of the Charter (of Fundamental Rights).” 

She said that a newly created U.S. ombuds person dealing with Europeans’ complaints about U.S. surveillance did not eliminate those concerns. 

Costello also said she was not delivering any value judgment on the data protection laws in the EU or United States.

Note EU-Digest: Facebook and other US social media companies don't seem to take EU Privacy laws serious. Facebook was recently fined by Spain for €1.2m for breaking privacy laws. Facebook, Google, Twitter, and other US web companies have been told tthat the weak US privacy Laws are not applicable in the EU, and a;so ordered  to crack down on hate speech and speech inciting violence and terrorism — but this time, the EU is taking things a step further. The European Commission has issued guidelines for web companies to follow, and it’s warning the companies that, if they don’t comply, this could lead to some huge fines. 

Read more: Ireland asks Europe's top court to rule on EU-U.S. data transfers

The Netherlands - NSA Spying: Home affairs minister Plasterk under fire over security service phone taps

Ronald Plasterkerk and the NSA

Dutch Home affairs minister Ronald Plasterk and defence minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert were summoned by the prime minister on Wednesday night to explain the confusion over exactly who gathered information on 1.8 million phone calls and text messages.

The ministers told parliament yesterday the Dutch, not the American, secret services were responsible for monitoring the phone calls, and that the information had then been shared with the US authorities.

Parliament is due to debate the latest information next week. Opposition MPs want to know if Plasterk deliberately misinformed parliament last year when he stated NSA was behind the information gathering.

Plasterk said: 'The details were collected in the interest of counter-terrorism activities and military operations abroad,’ the briefing stated. The information was then ‘shared with the US’.

Note EU-Digest: The question that needs to be asked in the Dutch Parliament is - "who requested the info in the first place and if it was the NSA why were Dutch citizen privacy rights breached and why was this information given so freely to this US spy agency ? "

Read more: DutchNews.nl - Home affairs minister under fire over security service phone taps