topic: | Technology |
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located: | USA |
editor: | Ama Lorenz |
As previewed Tuesday in Playbook, the U.S. and EU have now initialled the “Umbrella” Data Privacy and Protection Agreement (DPPA), after four years of negotiation. As part of this agreement, the Obama administration has asked Congress to grant European Union citizens the same rights as Americans have with respect to relevant aspects of the Privacy Act, so that there will be parity with the rights that Americans currently have in Europe concerning their data when it is stored there.
There are currently seven EU-US agreements covering justice and home affairs issues:
The ”Umbrella” agreement would, if finalised, create a broad framework for the transfer of personal data from the EU to the US for use by US authorities for law enforcement purposes, such as the prevention and detection of crime and terrorism.
EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said the announcement represented "an important step in the right direction" but that the "words only matter if put into law".
"Legislative action by the US Congress establishing enforceable judicial redress rights for Europeans in the US can open the door to closing the deal on the data protection umbrella agreement," Reding said. Still, it’s not likely that the U.S. Congress will debate on the “Umbrella” before the end of this year.
The EU Commission published a Q&A on the EU-US data protection "Umbrella agreement", trying to answer what that agreement means – once filled with life. A better explanation is delivered on accessnow.
Can Europeans feel safer now in terms of their data protection? Not really. But they shall have the right to take legal action in the US courts, if US authorities have mishandled their data. That might become very interesting looking into the direction of Facebook and other major social platforms. So, keep an eye on it!
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