The EC says the rules of "safe harbour" – the regulations which place US companies handling EU citizen data under the same data protection rules as European firms – are not working as intended, and therefore need to be made more stringent. It discussed scrapping safe harbour altogether if US businesses failed to comply, although this would be a last resort.
Safe harbour is a form of regulation that
invariably affects cloud computing providers as data is often hosted
outside the country in which the customer is based. The EC has found
that there are too many weaknesses in the rules, coming to the
conclusion that US businesses not conforming to safe harbour are gaining
an unfair advantage above the EU businesses that are.
Elsewhere, the EC called upon EU-US co-operation
on data transfers for law enforcement operations, requesting a speedy
conclusion to ongoing talks on an "umbrella agreement".
It also asked the US to take into account EU
citizens when it reforms its own national security practices. This
follows the National Security Agency's (NSA) widespread tapping of
European internet traffic, which seemingly disregarded any borders and
laws.
EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding said the
EC had a responsibility to continue to pressure the US into taking
action. "Citizens on both sides of the Atlantic need to be reassured
that their data is protected and companies need to know existing
agreements are respected and enforced," she said. "Today, the European
Commission is setting out actions that would help to restore trust and
strengthen data protection in transatlantic relations.
"There is now a window of opportunity to rebuild
trust, which we expect our American partners to use, notably by working
with determination towards a swift conclusion of the negotiations on an
EU-US. data protection umbrella agreement."
EU trust in the US has been severely shaken in the months following the PRISM scandal, with Germany accusing US spies of tapping vice chancellor Angela Merkel's phone. EC staff and buildings were also under the watchful eye of US spies, according to the leaks.
https://techtrickszone.com/2019/06/07/how-to-protect-kids-from-inappropriate-internet/
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