Swift breached EU data law
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A money transfer firm broke EU privacy laws by secretly giving information to the US authorities, an inquiry finds.
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SWIFT breaks EU law to comply with US law The US Treasury's Terrorist Finance Tracking programme had violated the privacy of up to 7,800 international financial institutions in its secret trawl through financial records held by the Belgian firm SWIFT.â¦
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Consultants in frame? Definitely Maybe The UK government has published guidelines for the application of a law that makes it illegal to create or distribute so-called "hacking tools".â¦
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European Union governments are pushing through contentious new plans to retain data from telephone calls and e-mails for a minimum period of 12 months as part of new anti-terrorist and cybercrime proposals.
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Europe's solution to the SWIFT problem The European Parliament has recommended that the only logical way to stop US anti-terrorist investigators from illegally snooping on European financial transactions is to get the firm handling them to remove its data from US shores.â¦
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The EU and the United States have  reached a preliminary deal on how U.S. authorities can consult  data from the international banking network SWIFT in  anti-terror investigations, an EU spokesman said on Wednesday.
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'We've written some letters' British banks have responded to European privacy watchdogs, who claim they broke the law by letting US anti-terror investigators have access to the details of their customers' international financial transactions.â¦
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LONDON -- Apple Computer&#39;s three-month-old European iTunes service came under attack Wednesday from Britain&#39;s Consumers&#39; Association, which asked the Office of Fair Trading, a business watchdog, to investigate why the service&#39;s prices are higher than
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A German law currently in draft form would make hacking illegal, even if no data was stolen. It would also ban the creation or use of hacker tools -- a prospect that worries "white hat" security experts.
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ID theft milestone reached The total number of US customer records compromised as a result of security blunders has hit the 100m milestone.â¦
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By Kevin J. O'Brien and Thomas Crampton  In the latest example of a U.S. technology giant potentially being called on the carpet in Europe, Google has been warned that it may be violating European Union privacy laws by storing data on its users for up to two years.
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Against privacy chief's advice European police forces will have easier access to each others' information on criminals and suspects after ministers agreed a new data swap system. But Europe's data protection chief told OUT-LAW that his concerns over the system had been sidelined.â¦
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Exploit code targets a flaw that generated a government warning last week.
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An anti-terror deal struck between the United States and the European Union gives U.S. law enforcement access to passenger data on U.S.-bound flights. The agreement was deadlocked for months as the EU held out for privacy rights.
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Europe&#39;s top data protection official, European Data Protection Supervisor Peter Hustinx, criticized plans to create a European equivalent of the PNR (passenger name records) gathered by U.S. authorities, questioning the plan&#39;s necessity and proportionality.&quot;The fight against terrorism can be a legitimate ground to apply exceptions to the fundamental rights to privacy and data protection, but only within certain limits,&quot; Hustinx said in a statement on Thursday.&quot;The necessity of intended measures must be supported by clear and undeniable elements, and their proportionality must be demonstrated. These two aspects are essential conditions and they are clearly not fulfilled in this case,&quot; he said.The U.S. introduced PNR gathering in the wake of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. After some initial resistance, the European Union agreed to allow airlines to hand over to American authorities details about passengers flying from the E.U. to the U.S., before a flights&#39; departure.Since then, Madrid and London have been attacked by suicide bombers, stiffening the resolve of European politicians to tighten security further.Last month the European Commission proposed a raft of pan-E.U. antiterrorism measures, including a PNR gathering system for all flights into the E.U. Under the proposed plan, air carriers would be obliged to hand over 19 pieces of passenger information, including the name, address, passport number, credit-card number, and history of changes in any flight schedule. The data would be retained for up to 13 years and be shared between authorities in all E.U. member states.This is very similar to the shape of the PNR agreement reached with the U.S. in June. Airlines have to hand over 19 details about passengers on flights to the U.S., and the U.S. authorities can keep the information for up to 15 years.Hustinx said the E.U. PNR plan would have &quot;a major impact on privacy and data protection rights of air passengers.&quot;He also criticized the agreement for its lack of clarity. In particular, he pointed out that the Commission&#39;s proposal doesn&#39;t say what the applicable legal framework for the plan would be, doesn&#39;t specify which authorities should have access to the data and fails to give rules on transferring passenger data outside of the E.U.Hustinx urged E.U. lawmakers to delay the PNR plan until after the recently agreed Lisbon Treaty comes into force, which is expected within the next year once each member state ratifies it in its national parliament.The treaty would force the Council of national governments to reach agreement with the European Parliament on the PNR plan. Currently the Council can decide on the matter by itselfMany parliamentarians are bitterly opposed to the E.U./U.S. PNR agreement and to the E.U. PNR plan.The European Commission wasn&#39;t immediately available to comment on Hustinx&#39;s comments.
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(InfoWorld) - Financial data transfer company Swift can continue to pass details of European citizens' transactions to U.S. authorities provided the firm signs a formal get-out clause granting it immunity from European data protection laws, the European Commission said Thursday. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication SCRL (Swift) has been at the center of aÂ transatlantic dispute over data protectionÂ since being ordered to share millions of pieces of information about people and companies from around the world with U.S. agencies after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The information was deemed essential in tracing the financing of terrorism and Swift complied with the order. However, European data protection laws forbid transfers of European citizens' personal data outside the European Union, if the country receiving the data has a weaker data protection regime than Europe's. The U.S. is considered such a country under European laws. In June 2006, The New York Times revealed that Swift had been sharing the data with U.S. authorities for years, sparkingÂ investigations in EuropeÂ into how the European laws could so easily have been breached. In an agreement reached between the European Commission, the German government, which currently holds the E.U.'s presidency, and the U.S. Treasury department, Swift can continue to share the information if it signs the safe harbor agreement, and as long as individuals are informed by their banks that the information will be passed over to U.S. authorities, the Commission said. If these conditions are met, then U.S. authorities are free to keep the data for up to five years, said European Commission spokesman Friso Roscam Abbing. The safe harbor agreement has been signed by many large multinationals including Microsoft. By signing it, companies agree to respect Europeans' private data once it leaves the E.U. "The E.U. will have now the necessary guarantees that the U.S. Treasury processes data it receives from Swift's mirror server in USA in a way which takes account of E.U. data protection principles," said Commission Vice President Franco Frattini, the commissioner responsible for justice, freedom and security. "I welcome the United States Treasury Department's unilateral representations and the opportunity the Treasury has given the European Union to have its views and concerns duly reflected in the representations," Frattini added. "As well as Swift joining the Safe Harbor and its compliance with the Safe Harbor privacy principles, we now look to Swift and to the financial institutions which use its services to ensure that they fully comply with their information obligations under European data protection law. We urge them to take all the necessary steps to ensure their quick compliance with European data protection law." Swift has promised to sign the safe harbor agreement in the coming days, while banks that use Swift to transfer funds have agreed to set up systems that will alert their customers of data transfers to the U.S. by Sept. 1, Roscam Abbing said. However, it remains unclear what happens if customers decide that they don't want their information shared, the Commission spokesman added. Â
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Politicos just blowing smoke Opinion Data protection, privacy and information law have never been so high profile as in recent months. Following the loss of 25 million people's personal details by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), there has been what seems like a tide of gaffe after slip-up, all resulting in private personal details spilling out into the public domain.â¦