EU Likely to Protect File Swapper Identities
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While the RIAA has been making headway in the United States by suing anonymous alleged file sharers with just an IP address and obtaining their names and addresses from the Internet service providers, things could prove more difficult in Europe if a recent court recommendation holds up.
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Analysis No delay in EC anti-trust compliance
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(InfoWorld) - European data-protection officials are broadening their investigation into the alleged transfer of personal banking details by the Swift banking cooperative in Belgium to U.S. authorities, the European Commission said Wednesday.Separately, the Belgian data-protection authority is expected to conclude its report into the affair in the coming weeks. Unlike the European officials, the Belgian authorities could impose sanctions on Swift, a banking industry payment-transfer organization."Recognising the seriousness of the questions that have been raised, the working party agreed to continue fact-finding and conduct further analysis based on all relevant factual and legal elements," the Commission said in a statement, referring to a working party of data-protection officials from around the European Union. The group met in Brussels Tuesday and Wednesday."The working party's priority is to safeguard European data protection rights," the Commission said.The officials will conclude their investigation in November at their next meeting, the Commission said. If they find that European data protection laws have been violated they could propose that the Commission take legal action against Belgium for failing to uphold Union-wide laws.In the statement, the Commission said the officials expressed "immediate concerns about the lack of transparency" surrounding the transfers, which began in secret shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S.The transfers, which came to light in newspaper reports in June this year, have raised fears that Swift has abused European citizensâ privacy. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and other U.S. intelligence agencies allegedly demanded the information in order to trace terrorist financing activity.The so-called Swift affair comes at a time of heightened tension between Europe and the U.S. over how to balance counter-terrorism needs and preserve citizens' civil liberties. Last month U.S. President George Bush admitted that terrorism suspects have been secretly detained in Europe, sparking an angry outcry among European civil liberties groups, politicians and newspapers.
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Windows users will have another tool for protecting their PCs.
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File-swappers in Britain are to be taken to court for trading tracks over the Internet. The crackdown by the British Phonographic Industry is the first of its kind in the UK, although the
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Europeans seek assurances that company is respecting privacy rights of people whose data it retains.
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GNUCitizen is describing an apparent vulnerability that could trick people into revealing personal data.
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National beaks can decide for themselves The European supreme court has ruled that lower authorities are not compelled to order disclosure of file-sharers' identities by ISPs in civil lawsuits. The decision will hamper the efforts of rights-holder bodies to clamp down on digital copying through the courts.â¦
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The UK music industry is set to prosecute people who music swap music illegally over the internet.
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Website head said he expects contributors claiming certain credentials will soon have to prove their identity.
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'Basic rights need to be guaranteed' in the third pillar The EU's data protection watchdog has warned that European officials are in danger of eroding basic data protection principles and has called on them to reconsider their actions.â¦
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. may be willing to give some ground in a dispute with European regulators over access to trans-Atlantic passenger data, although reaching a compromise before a July deadline remains uncertain. The issue of how long the U.S. holds onto passenger data has been one of the sticking points in the dispute, which threatens airlines' ability to carry passengers to the U.S. without violating U.S. or European law. "I anticipate that there may well be a decrease, and perhaps even a significant decrease, in the amount of time [the passenger data] is retained," said Hugo Teufel III, chief privacy officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in a meeting with journalists in Paris on Thursday. The U.S. requires airlines to hand over 34 facts about each passenger traveling from Europe, including where and how their airline ticket was purchased. The U.S. says it needs the information to help identify terrorism suspects, but some European regulators have fiercely opposed sharing their citizens' data, citing concerns about privacy. A 2004 agreement on the matter was struck down by the European Court of Justice earlier this year, and an interim agreement will expire on July 31. If a new accord isn't reached before then over the "passenger name records" (PNRs), airlines face being sued in Europe for sharing the data, or being denied landing permission in the U.S. if they do not. "I believe that there will very likely be increased privacy protections with respect to the PNR data," Teufel said on Thursday. "Whether it happens before the end of July or after the end of July is very difficult to say." He cautioned that he is not directly involved in the discussions, and would not elaborate on what the increased privacy protections might be. It was unclear if the concessions had been communicated to the European Union or would prompt it to ease its position. European parliamentarians have also expressed other concerns with the PNR system, including the amount of data being collected and the ways it will be used. A spokesman for Franco Frattini, the E.U.'s commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security, said it would be inappropriate to comment on Teufel's remarks while the talks are ongoing. "We are in the midst of negotiations," the spokesman said via e-mail. Teufel is a political appointee responsible for privacy policies at the Department of Homeland Security. He was in Europe to meet with privacy representatives in France and Germany to gather feedback and smooth relations between the two sides. He sought to dispel what he characterized as misinformation about the PNR system. The U.S. does not ask about meal choices to identify potential Muslim travelers, he said, calling that "absolutely false." Asked if credit card data is collected, he said: "To my knowledge the department is not pushing for that." He acknowledged theÂ divisions between U.S. and European attitudes to privacy. "I think Europeans are beginning to have a better understanding of U.S. privacy and U.S. privacy laws. I don't think Europeans as a whole have a sufficient understanding now," he said. "I am not surprised when I hear from a European their often-held view that the U.S. has no privacy laws. That's just false. We do have privacy laws, we care about privacy. What we do have is a different approach to privacy and a different approach to government."
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(InfoWorld) - The European Union has reached a preliminary agreement in the long-runningÂ dispute over the handling of personal dataÂ about E.U. citizens flying to the U.S., a European Commission spokesman said Thursday. Franco Frattini, the commissioner for justice and home affairs, together with German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and U.S. secretary for homeland security Michael Chertoff, reached the agreement on Wednesday. However, details wonât be made public until after a meeting of ambassadors for all 27 E.U. countries slated for Friday morning, said Friso Roscam Abbing, Frattiniâs spokesman. The ambassadors will have to sign off on the deal, which observers say is likely to happen. U.S. authorities have been trying to use the renewal of a transatlantic agreement permitting the transfer of European air passengersâ data, known as passenger name records (PNRs), to beef up their powers of surveillance of foreigners entering the U.S. Sharing the dataÂ breaches strict European data protection laws, but the European Commission and national governments in the 27 countries in the E.U. negotiated an exemption from the rules in order to allow the U.S. to better protect itself from potential terrorist attacks. That interim agreement was deemed illegal by the European Court of Justice, and the court gave the E.U. until the end of July to come up with a new accord. Failure to do so wouldÂ leave European airlines exposed to massive finesÂ and the possible loss of landing slots in the U.S if they donât continue to hand over the data, or legal action on data protection grounds in the E.U. if they do. Roscam Abbing declined to comment on reports that the political agreement reached Wednesday allows U.S. authorities to hold onto PNR data for 15 years. âWait until the briefing tomorrow,â he said.
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Europe&#39;s top privacy guardian, the European Data Protection Supervisor Peter Hustinx said he expects the U.S. and the European Union to reach an agreement on how to share information about passengers flying across the Atlantic, but not by the July deadline.
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Critics ofÂ last week's agreementÂ allowing European passengers' personal data to be shared with U.S. authorities have just under a month to reshape the accord before it comes into force, said Stavros Lambrinidis, vice president of the European Parliament's civil liberties committee Monday.
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EU and US negotiators strike a deal on sharing passenger information for transatlantic flights.
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The United States plans to issue passports with personal data stored on radio frequency identification chips. The documents would be harder to forge, but might leave holders vulnerable to identity theft. By Ryan Singel.