Anna Fielder writes:
We, and other privacy advocates, have criticised the poor provisions of the so-called Safe Harbour agreement, which allows free transfers of personal information from European countries to companies in the United States that have signed up and promise to abide by its Principles. Now the European Commission, prompted by the recent mass surveillance scandals, has published an investigation into this agreement which provides overwhelming evidence that it is not fit for purpose. It urges the US authorities, with a number of concrete recommendations, to get their act together by next summer.
We welcome the recommendations but believe they just stick a plaster on an open wound. The only longterm solution is for US companies to respect EU privacy laws when handling EU citizen data or, better still, for the US to implement strong data protection laws for the benefit of all.
Read more on Privacy International.
Related: US tech giants should look beyond ‘Safe Harbour’ certification to win EU businesses’ trust on privacy, says expert (Out-law.com)