PRISM creates concern in Europe as William Hague urges calm

European disquiet over how the US's PRISM snooping campaign has affected citizens on this side of the Atlantic is growing, despite repeated attempts from some officials to draw a line under the affair.
According to the leaked documents about the US National Security Agency (NSA), officials at the UK's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) spy centre received 197 intelligence reports from the PRISM system in the past year.
But William Hague, the foreign secretary told Parliament that GCHQ and the British intelligence agencies operated within the rule of law.
“To intercept the content of any individual’s communications in the UK requires a warrant signed personally by me, the home secretary, or by another secretary of state,” said Hague. “This is no casual process. Every decision is based on extensive legal and policy advice. Warrants are legally required to be necessary, proportionate and carefully targeted, and we judge them on that basis.”
But members of the European Parliament are also concerned that the US has overstepped the mark with its systematic cyber snooping campaign.
Tonio Borg the European commissioner for consumer policy told an emergency debate on PRISM that the Commission would seek clarification from the US about the extent of monitoring of European citizens.
“The Commission is asking for clear commitments from the US to respect the fundamental rights of EU citizens to data protection and to access to judicial redress in the same way as it is afforded to US residents,” he said.
Meanwhile, European politicians, including German leader Angela Merkel have promised to raise the issue with US president Obama, when he heads to Europe next week for a G8 meeting.
The revelations about the extent of US snooping on internet communications first emerged late last week. Yesterday, the whistleblower broke cover, revealing himself as Edward Snowden, a former IT contractor for the NSA.
Meanwhile, privacy campaigning group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation called on international users to boycott internet firms that co-operated with the NSA spying programme. Firms such as Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft have been implicated in the PRISM scandal, although all have denied knowledge of the programme.