*EU-US privacy shield: Back to the drawing board for the final stretch!* Today, the European Parliament adopted its resolution about the proposed EU-US Privacy Shield, adding its voice to the opinion of the Working Party 29 from last April and preceding the vote of national representatives in the Article 31 Committee next month. Following the 2013 Snowden revelation, Viviane Reding, then Vice-President of the Commission, launched the reform of Safe Harbour to ensure that data flows across the Atlantic in full compliance with data privacy. Two years and a half later, substantial progress has been made. Not enough for Viviane Reding, now Member of the European Parliament, who still considers the draft decision by the Commission incomplete: "I welcome the numerous and wide-reaching improvements in terms of transparency, oversight and monitoring of the companies' practices. Nevertheless, I regret that few guarantees have been obtained concerning the activities of the US intelligence services. The problem is, has always been, and remains the use of national security as a blanket exemption. Together with our American counterparts, further work is needed to turn written assurances into legal obligations, and words into the reality of our citizens. The final decision by the Commission needs to be rock-solid, if we want to provide SMEs with the legal certainty they deserve. <http://www.eppgroup.eu/press-release/EP-resolution-on-EU-US-Privacy-Shield--> *Il Garante Ue boccia lo «scudo per la privacy»: “Bisogna assicurare la protezione dei dati”* Respinto il pacchetto di riforme sul trasferimento delle informazioni personali dei cittadini europei negli Stati Uniti «Apprezzo gli sforzi che sono stati fatti per sostituire il Safe Harbour, ma il Privacy Shield in questa forma non è abbastanza solido per superare la valutazione della Corte». Secco e deciso, il Garante europeo per la privacy, Giovanni Buttarelli, respinge al mittente il pacchetto di riforme per lo scambio di dati tra Stati Uniti e Unione europea. «Sono necessari miglioramenti significativi - afferma l’alto funzionario Italiano - se la Commissione intende adottare una decisione soddisfacente che rispetti l’essenza dei principi chiave della protezione dei dati, con particolare riguardo ai criteri di necessità, proporzionalità e ai meccanismi di ricorso». Inoltre, è «il caso di sviluppare una soluzione di più lungo termine nel dialogo transatlantico». <http://www.lastampa.it/2016/05/30/economia/il-garante-ue-boccia-lo-scudo-per...> *Executive Summary of the Preliminary Opinion of the of the European Data Protection Supervisor on the agreement [...]* The EDPS has identified three essential improvements which he recommends for the text to ensure compliance with the Charter and Article 16 of the Treaty: - clarification that all the safeguards apply to all individuals, not only to EU nationals; - ensuring judicial redress provisions are effective within the meaning of the Charter; - clarification that transfers of sensitive data in bulk are not authorised. <http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1464689752317&uri=CELEX:5...> Tuttavia dall'altra pare dell'Atlantico la musica è ben diversa: *Secret Text in Senate Bill Would Give FBI Warrantless Access to Email Records* _A provision snuck into_ the still-secret text of the Senate’s annual intelligence authorization would give the FBI the ability to demand individuals’ email data and possibly web-surfing history from their service providers without a warrant and in complete secrecy. If passed, the change would expand the reach of the FBI’s already highly controversial national security letters. The FBI is currently allowed to get certain types of information with NSLs — most commonly, information about the name, address, and call data associated with a phone number or details about a bank account. Since a 2008 Justice Department legal opinion, the FBI has not been allowed to use NSLs to demand “electronic communication transactional records,” such as email subject lines and other metadata, or URLs visited. The spy bill passed the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, with the provision in it. The lone no vote came from Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who wrote in a statement that one of the bill’s provisions “would allow any FBI field office to demand email records without a court order, a major expansion of federal surveillance powers.” <https://theintercept.com/2016/05/26/secret-text-in-senate-bill-would-give-fb...>