Monday, October 5, 2015

Updating data protection rules between EU and America

European Court of Justice (ECJ) – highest judge decision on data privacy rule could put additional barriers for data flow from EU to America. Since the late 1990s, under safe-harbour, EU data is allowed to flow to the US with proper safeguards provided equivalent EU data protection rules were instituted, no other third parties that are non-compliant, and as long as opting out is available. That's where it ends (or begins) since self-certification has demonstrated that deficiencies exist and false compliant were reported by the European Commission in 2013.
EU sees personal data as a fundamental right whereas US considers it consumer protection – allowing exceptions in the name of national security. These differences were brought to bear when Yves Bot (court advocate general) stated his opinion that "America's data-protection rules are inadequate and the safe-harbour pact should be suspended." The Economist

The EU court's decision on the matter could be rendered on October 6th and could have far reaching affects with existing data flow of private data and increased cloud services that cross country philosophies. Other related strain in the political mix include: (a) American Congress holding on the Judicial Redress Act - legislation that would allow EU citizens to sue in American courts for privacy violations and (b) Umbrella Agreement which allows personal data to be exchanged between country law enforcement agencies. Data protection rules is trying to catch up with the times but these negotiation and proposals on the tables may further limit data sharing, institute fines based on revenue for violation and may require independent data-protection officers to rule on privacy.
Many sources of the EU data protection so here's one reference – Directive 95/46/EC

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