January 17, 2018

David Meyer

The US is dooming the future of the transatlantic data economy

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THE NSA’S WARRANTLESS INTERNET SURVEILLANCE POWERS look set to continue with minimal changes, after privacy activists failed to derail a bill extending the program: http://reut.rs/2EMbmAz

While the authorisation of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act – which allows US intelligence to spy on foreigners via Facebook and Google, and which incidentally scoops up loads of information about Americans too – is set to expire on Friday, the Senate narrowly voted on Tuesday to advance the bill that would renew the authorisation. The House of Representatives already voted last week, with a much wider margin, to do the same.

For a brief moment last week, Donald Trump joined the ranks of those opposed to the six-year renewal, claiming that FISA might have been used by Barack Obama’s administration to spy on the Trump campaign. This contradicted the official White House line, which opposed any serious new constraints on the agencies’ surveillance powers – and that was the line that prevailed.

THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES. The Privacy Shield data-transfer agreement between the EU and US is still the focus of scepticism among European privacy regulators, and top EU courts will have to rule on the legality – under EU fundamental rights – of other mechanisms that allow US firms to import European personal data.

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Continua qui: https://connectedrights.net/2018/01/17/the-us-is-dooming-the-future-of-the-transatlantic-data-economy/