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EU To Vote On Suspension of Data Sharing With US

New submitter badzilla writes with a story from ZDnet that says a vote is scheduled in the European Parliament for today, U.S. Independence Day, on "whether existing data sharing agreements between the two continents should be suspended, following allegations that U.S. intelligence spied on EU citizens." One interesting scenario outlined by the article is that it may disrupt air travel between the U.S. and EU: "In the resolution, submitted to the Parliament on Tuesday, more than two-dozen politicians from a range of political parties call the spying 'a serious violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,' and call on the suspension of the Passenger Name Records (PNR) system. Prior to leaving the airport, airlines must make passenger data available to the U.S. Names, dates of birth, addresses, credit or debit card details and seat numbers are among the data — though critics say the information has never helped catch a suspected criminal or terrorist before. Should the PNR system be suspended, it could result in the suspension of flights to the U.S. from European member states."

4 of 330 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Ouch! by moronoxyd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Don't blame the messenger.

    The root of the problem are the far reaching spying activities of the NSA, not the fact that somebody blew the whistle.

  2. Re:Harmless? by serviscope_minor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, it looks like Snowden's actions continue to bear fruit in harming both the US and its allies.

    Bull-fucking-shit.

    Oh, unless you mean that stopping them from pulling illegal stunts is harm, in which case, fuck you.

    What caused harm was the US and UK doing illegal stuff. Do not confuse the messenger with the message.

    As a citizen of the UK and therefore EU, I assert that these leaks did good, not harm. How can bringing criminals to account be considered "harmful". How on earth can stopping a massive US over reach in wanting to pile the old haystack every higher with data on EU citizens be considered "harm"?

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  3. Re:Harmless? by msobkow · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The US harmed itself with it's egregious spying.

    All Snowden did is expose the bullshit. He didn't cause the bullshit. That's squarely on the backs of the NSA and the US government's "secret" legislation.

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
  4. Re:Ouch! by BrokenHalo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All the major players spy on each other. Even their allies.

    In the past, the convention was to spy on governments or their agencies (who might or might not be spies themselves).

    A sledgehammer approach whereby the US imagines that it is somehow OK to spy on citizens of other nations, on a wholesale basis, with no regard to "probable cause" or any of those other convenient elisions is totally unconscionable.

    Suspension of data sharing is nothing more than a mumble where real sanctions should be applied. They should be quarantining all human traffic from or to the US, and banning all trade. If the US administration does not choose to operate by civilised rules, then it should be treated as the international pariah that it has become.