Owen Bowcott reports:
US data storage systems operated by Facebook and other digital operators do not provide customers with protection from state surveillance, the European court of justice has ruled.
The declaration by the EU court in Luxembourg that privacy is being compromised will have far-reaching consequences for the online industry and could force many companies to relocate their operations.
Declaring the American so-called safe harbour scheme “invalid”, the ECJ, whose findings are binding on all EU members states, ruled that: “The United States … scheme thus enables interference, by United States public authorities, with the fundamental rights of persons…”
Read more on The Guardian and every other major news site. This is huge and will leave businesses in a state of uncertainty until a new agreement is negotiated. Here’s the ruling.
And when you think about it all, we’re at this point now because of the actions of two young people – one, Edward Snowden, who revealed massive surveillance by the U.S. government, and one, Max Schrem, who recognized the implications and filed a complaint in Europe under their data protection laws.
So will American businesses suffer because of US government snooping/surveillance programs and policies? The outcome or future isn’t clear, but at the very least, businesses will have even more motivation to fight the government on sweeping and overly broad surveillance programs.