EU Parliament Supports Suspending US Data Sharing

New submitter egladil writes "As seen previously here on Slashdot, the European Parliament was to vote on 'whether existing data sharing agreements between the two continents should be suspended, following allegations that U.S. intelligence spied on E.U. citizens.' With the votes now having been cast, the result is 483 in favor of the resolution and 98 against, while 65 abstained. The resolution in question in part called for the U.S. 'to suspend and review any laws and surveillance programs that "violate the fundamental right of E.U. citizens to privacy and data protection," as well as Europe's "sovereignty and jurisdiction."' It also decided that the E.U. should investigate the surveillance of E.U. citizens, and finally gave backing to the European Commision in case they should decide to suspend the data sharing deals currently in place with the U.S., such as the Passenger Name Record and Terrorist Finance Tracking Program agreements. The question now is whether the E.U. commision will go through with suspending these deals or not."

Comments

... More effort than ... ?

[DavidClarkeHR]

Well, it doesn't seem like much, but it's more than the american people have done in response.

Or maybe it's not MORE, but it's certainly more visible.

Re:... More effort than ... ?

[Jade_Wayfarer]

Right, even if that doesn't look truly sincere and likely will have no long-lasting consequences for anybody it is still something. Maybe it's one of the positive sides of having this many parties in EU - if "bigger fish" would try to ignore this issue, smaller parties will get more support on the next elections, so everybody has to do something (or, at least, pretend to do something good enough). Pirate Party is surely going to rally their supporters over this issue.

Re:... More effort than ... ?

[erroneus]

This wasn't "the EU people" it was their legislative body. The US legislative bodies are complicit with what has been going on. While one side feigns outrage at the other party's activities, it can be demonstrated that both parties participated willingly in what's been going on. When Republicans ruled, the Democrats pretended to be outraged and even to "do away" with the constitutionlly illegal activites. But once in charge, the Democrats didn't do away with the illegal activities (and I just say CRIMES for brevity?) and then intensified them.

So to say the "EU people" did more than the "US people" is a bit misleading. But to say that the EU government is more responsive to the need to support their own laws would be extremely accurate to point out and a well deserved shaming.

And they found out how? What of the messenger?

[ElBeano]

I'll believe it's more than theater when they provide a home for Snowden.

Re:They should buy the data from U.S. instead

[Vanderhoth]

I think that's kind of part of the problem here. The U.S. is far more, and far too, aggressive in collecting data. The E.U., being a collection of countries that have historically spied on each other to very large extents and are now friendly, frowns on that sort of thing. So although I'm sure the E.U. is still doing spying on each other and just putting up this front to cover their tracks. The U.S. got caught because they were greedy for data and careless with it, now they have to pay the piper.

That'll be 50 cents please.

why hypocrites

[anonieuweling]

Why was sharing all that data with the USA OK in the `war on terror`?
Why suddenly, when the EU leaders and G20 are spied upon, as it occurs, is this sharing suspended?
Why was it OK to violate privacy of EU citizens because of US demands?
Why doesn't it occur in full yet that the USA are a totalitarian state and that they want to put their views onto the rest of the world?
Why doesn't the EU show willingness to harbour Snowden, Assange and Manning as a gesture of humanitarian nature?
Why doesn't anyone understand that it won't help the USA at all if they incarcerate Manning, Assange and Snowden? The leaking will continue, just with more caution.