Senate marks Data Privacy Day with passage of critical bill for Safe Harbor

The US Senate has celebrated Data Privacy Day by passing a critical piece of legislation that will extend US privacy rights to Europeans. The Judicial Redress Act passed the Senate's Judiciary Committee on Thursday, putting it in front of the full Senate and making it a virtual certainty to become law. The Act will extend the …

[Destroy All Monsters]

The Act will extend the same privacy rights that US citizens enjoy to European citizens, and will provide European citizens with the right to proper judicial redress over how their data is handled by American corporations and the US government.

Hmmm.... "Thanks for nothing", I guess?

[big_D]

It is a bit like driving a 2016 Mercedes S-Class with all the additional safety features loaded on and being told that if you travel to America, you will benefit from all the safety features of a Model T-Ford...

Still, it is a move in the right direction, even if it is a little limp wristed.

[Ugotta B. Kiddingme]

"legislation that will extend US privacy rights to Europeans."

<guffaws> Go on, then. Pull the other one! </guffaws>

Seriously (gasping for air), that's pretty funny. I remember privacy. Seem to recall having it once, myself, long ago. Truth is, that which calls itself my government has amply demonstrated a complete and total disregard for privacy AND the rule of law. This "legislation" will change nothing. I'm also betting that you lot on The Old World won't fall for it any more than we do...

[Anonymous Coward]

A step in the right direction?

Depends on your perspective. But it does look like the USA is trying to prevent a mass walkout of Europeans.

Instead of whining the Euopeans should, perhaps, invest more in starting services to out-compete the US-originating offerings. Unfortunately, in our confederacy it may be harder to achieve the scale.

[Mage]

extend US privacy rights to Europeans.

Pull the other one.

Compared to Europeans in Europe, the Americans in USA have very little in the way of Privacy rights. USA rights do not meet European standards.

It's true of course that some aspects of UK and Irish practices don't meet EU standards, but way above USA.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: extend US privacy rights to Europeans.

This is still a step in the right direction.

I am surprised it happened. I need to go out and have a look for contrails from any flying pigs taking from the nearby USA military base.

USA giving someone non-USA-ian same rights as to USA cittizens. Even if it is in a particular narrow area. Woa... That is a very big pig squadron.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: extend US privacy rights to Europeans.

Interesting limitation though: "It the records are disclosed unlawfully, they will be able to sue." If the records are unlawfully disclosed is the first hammer against disclosure although that very same government gets to determine what "unlawful disclosure" means.

Secondary to that has to do with "able to sue." Supposedly you need standing to sue the government and getting that has been a major roadblock to efforts by the EFF and ACLU (just/only two of the many) to successfully bring a suit to trial. So good luck with that.

Thirdly, this has nothing to do whatsoever with commercial data collection. For that we are going to have to wait until the full agreement is presented to the public.

[Me? I'm just a bystander in all these. The only people NOT allowed to have access to all my records, including my medical records, happens to be the general public and looking at my Spam mail, I'm not so sure about that. Any government official, including any law enforcement officers to give an example, can pull them whenever they like. I have a nice brochure sent to me about every years stating that. Lovely.]

[Drs. Security]

Re: extend US privacy rights to Europeans.

let's hope El Reg will publish the full text, I doubt any EU or US politicians will ever do it at all.

[Drs. Security]

Re: extend US privacy rights to Europeans.

yes and probably have to travel to America first to claim those rights, so what is the benefit in the end?

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: extend US privacy rights to Europeans.

"yes and probably have to travel to America first to claim those rights, so what is the benefit in the end?"

Immigration: And what is the purpose of your visit to our great and democratic country sir?

Me: I'm here to sue your government for unlawful use and disclosure of my personal data.

Immigration: <reaching for gun> Fuck off you commie terrorist, entry denied! <reaching for radio>WE GOT ANOTHER ONE, I NEED BACKUP!!

[veti]

Re: extend US privacy rights to Europeans.

The US constitution - specifically, the 14th amendment - says that it is unlawful for the US gov't to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws".

This move is just a necessary corollary to extending their jurisdiction to cover Europe.

[Drs. Security]

Re: extend US privacy rights to Europeans.

correct, and there is one very basic reason for that: In the US privacy (or better yet, data protection) is a consumer right whilst in the EU it’s a fundamental human right part of the european laws and precisely the reason why safe harbour was killed in the first place. Oh and the European data retention directive as well btw.

This “extending” is just to make the big American firms happy whilst IMHO in practice it will change nothing at all.

[JohnMurray]

Re: extend US privacy rights to Europeans.

Don't be silly. The law is extending to EU citizens all the rights available to US citizens. None.

Safe Harbour; It never held water in the first place.

[Anonymous Coward]

Lovely dodge..

The Act will extend the same privacy rights that US citizens enjoy to European citizens

Ah, but the irony in all the noise about "old" Safe Harbor was that the EU was merely insisting on the same rights the US citizens were supposed to have under the 4th amendment, but never really got (but that's not really Europe's problem).

Anyway, this is mere window dressing the face of all the remnants of post 9/11 emergency laws that has as yet not even remotely been cleaned up. Expiring parts of the USA PATRIOT Act were extended by the USA FREEDOM Act (you've got to love the utter misrepresentation those name project) and there are a good deal more that render this finely crafted bit of bullshit into meaning absolutely squat.

It's a very American answer to a problem: lots of marketing, massively deceptive and not even touching the actual problem.

[Christoph]

Hey, we'll be able to sue!

In American courts. Paying American lawyers, plus all the expense of long distance litigation.

[Trigonoceps occipitalis]

CLASS ACTION

There may be some significant protection here. Granted I may only get a few cents out of it but after the first significant leak I fully expect the gentlemen of the American bar to contact anyone affected to sign up. We may poke fun at the way the legal system is sometimes misused in the USA but this may cost European companies. Won't make any real difference to leaks, surveillance or monitoring though.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: CLASS ACTION

There may be some significant protection here. Granted I may only get a few cents out of it but after the first significant leak I fully expect the gentlemen of the American bar to contact anyone affected to sign up.

I don't think so. From my first read it appears the usual exceptions apply, and they are many. So many, in fact, that this wonderful event is about as meaningless as a Wall Street apology.

[Anonymous Coward]

Useless

This is not worth the paper it will be published on. If it had been the other way round - the American public being given the same protection as the Europeans - it would have been a landmark step forward.

[Doctor Syntax]

the same privacy rights that US citizens enjoy

For some limited value of "enjoy".

How long before the ECJ strikes this one down?

[John Brown (no body)]

The details of that agreement are still currently a closely held secret.

So much for transparency in the two biggest proponents of democracy then.

Surely an Act or Bill specifically crafted to grant rights ought to be seen to publicly evolve in a way we can see and comment on?

Oh, hang on, this is the USA. Evolution is frowned on in large parts of that Land of the Free :-)

[MrDamage]

The same privacy rights that US citizens enjoy

In other words;

Bend over, spread your cheeks, and give me two deep coughs.

[noj]

"The details of that agreement are still currently a closely held secret."

"A guarantee from liars is but a walking shadow, a poor player,

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.”

(with apologies to WS; this was just the first thing that came to mind)

[nsld]

Still doesn't solve the fundamental problem

The key point in Schrems is article 8(2) of the ECHR and the use of indiscriminant surveillance so giving a level of redress against corporate America which actually already existed thanks to the way the FTC enforces data breaches is fairly meaningless but makes for good window dressing.

The element of finding and correcting data held by the US government is going to be interesting, with 7 billion people on the planet being spied on that could become a paperwork denial of service attack in its own right. I suspect this will involve unlit basements and signs about leopards!

The only difference is the redress is now direct rather than via the FTC and at your own expense!

The fundamental problem is the mass surveillance with no oversight and the only real solution to that is to have something akin to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal we have in the UK.

The only way to make that work will be to make it a joint EU/US body which can work on data privacy issues in both directions thus providing a single framework and process for both the US and EU citiziens.

Whatever happens the DPA's of the EU have to agree on it and those countries with a firmer approach to privacy like Germany are going to take a lot of convincing.

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: Still doesn't solve the fundamental problem

"the only real solution to that is to have something akin to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal we have in the UK."

The only real solution is another trip to the ECJ end another and another until it sinks in that this whitewash isn't going to work and, short of the US changing its approach to privacy the only solution is for any US corporation hoping to do business with Europeans is to do so via a legally air-gapped European operation. With its new proposed German data centre it looks as if Microsoft has latched onto this. How quickly will the others follow?

[Wommit]

Sooo...

Two lies for the price of one.

1) The Americans don't 'enjoy' privacy to the levels that Europeans do. To increase the Europeans privacy to that of the Americans would mean moving backwards a few decades.

2) The American government is the problem. It decides what is or is not legal within the USA (it hasn't quite figured out that that right also extends to other sovereign countries and their governments.)

So this is basically the same old situation that existed pre-Snowden. And the same old crap that Snowden showed us was happening will continue.

[nomadsquire]

Take control of your own privacy

It's better than not having it at all... it's something that I write about frequently (http://www.scoop.it/t/beer-by-sandy-gilchrist) as we should all be demanding that we get our privacy back again. People just seem to take a liberty - literally. Sadly, I can't see many of us Europeans invoking legal action, as it's cost prohibitive, and I'm not sure we have the principle of "class action" anywhere in Europe (maybe we do?) - but at least the law is in place, and it is there should we wish to act upon it.

[Anonymous Coward]

"The Act will extend the same privacy rights that US citizens enjoy to European citizens"

So that would be bugger all then

Basically US companies are whining to senators about the increased expense of maintaining the data they collect in foreign countries in those countries and the NSA is complaining that the transatlantic wiretaps they put in place at great expense are worthless if there's no traffic. So the senate comes up with a stopgap measure to try and placate the Europeans & keep that data flowing.

[Anonymous Coward]

Dealer

That is great But how long does it take to come down.