Data privacy issues following PRISM affair

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The PRISM scandal has brought forth a series of issues related to the protection of the European citizens’ data and reactions calling for measure to prevent spying on these data.

As the EU is currently updating its data privacy legislation, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, the German justice minister, believes the EU needs a new set of data privacy rules, “a package of measures at the EU level against mass spying by foreign secret services," and considers that the "high German data protection standards should be the rule."

EDRi-member Digitale Gesellschaft sent a letter to Justice Minister Leutheusse-Schnarrenberger asking her to take position on the amendments tabled by her political party in Brussels.

The minister has also raised the possibility of new, tangible measures to punish corporations that participate in American spying activities. Also, in July 2013, Chancellor Angela Merkel called on the U.S. to observe the German law in intelligence operations in Germany.

"I expect a clear commitment by the U.S. government for the future, that, on German soil, you stick to the German law. We are a friendly partner. We are in a defence alliance and we must be able to rely on each other." She also urged other European governments to work closely together on the issue of data protection and set out tougher data protection laws requiring internet companies to reveal details about who receives personal information from them.

http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number11.16/data-privacy-prism

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1. UK authorities press to get hold of Snowden affair’s documents

The echoes of the PRISM affair keep growing. On 21 August 2013, Secretary general Thorbjorn Jagland of the Council of Europe, addressed a letter to UK home secretary Theresa May asking for explanations regarding UK’s recent actions following the PRISM scandal.

Jagland was especially referring to the retention at Heathrow airport, on 17 August 2013, of David Miranda, the partner of the Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, for the documents exposing the mass digital surveillance Miranda was carrying and which were, considered by the Metropolitan police as "highly sensitive material the disclosure of which would be gravely injurious to public safety".

Miranda's lawyer in this case told the court that anti-terror laws had been misused to justify obtaining confidential journalistic information, thus avoiding the legal procedures allowing authorities to do that only with explicit safeguards.

Several European newspapers have warned that Miranda’s detention and criminal investigation threatens to undermine the position of the free press around the world. In an open letter, the editors of several European newspapers call on Prime Minister David Cameron, minister to "reinstall your government among the leading defenders of the free press": "We are surprised by the recent acts by officials of your government against our colleagues at the Guardian and deeply concerned that a stout defender of democracy and free debate like the United Kingdom uses anti-terror legislation in order to legalise what amounts to harassment of both the paper and individuals associated with it," says the letter which adds that "the implication of these acts may have ramifications far beyond the borders of the UK, undermining the position of the free press throughout the world".

http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number11.16/uk-authorities-get-snowden-files

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2. Powerful words. I hope the UK heeds them.

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3. Seems likea touchy situiation for the UK.

Who to piss off? Glad I don't have to deal with that.

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4. Did you see this piece? GCHQ reported to have access to almost all European internet

http://www.dw.de/gchq-reported-to-have-access-to-almost-all-european-internet-traffic/a-17053061

Britain's GCHQ is reported to have wider access to Europe's electronic communications than previously thought. The media reports are based partly on documents released by former US intelligence officer Edward Snowden.
The reports published by the German public broadcaster NDR and the Süddeutsche newspaper said documents made available to them by Edward Snowden indicate that Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is capable of gathering and analyzing data from almost all of the traffic that passes through Europe's internet network.

According to the reports, the GCHQ's capabilities are particularly strong with regard to Germany's electronic communications. This is made possible in large part due to a total of 14 fiber optic cables worldwide, which are used to deliver data between and countries and continents. Some of these lead to and from Germany's northern coast, and the German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom belongs to a consortium, which operates two of them.

These cables, the reports said, help the GCHQ to snoop on emails not just within Europe, but even within Germany. However, there is also another major contributing factor.

"Many online services have their servers for the European market in England or Ireland. And here too, the German traffic travels via Great Britain," journalist Jörg Schieb, who specializes in computers and the internet, told NDR.
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The UK is going to have to decide if they want to bring themselves back in line or if they will continue their behavior.

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5. Oh yeah, that one just boggles the mind.

Did anyone ever stop to think about what they were doing?
Do they really think they can finessse this away?

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6. UK behavior actually looks more egregious than our own. The mind boggles.

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7. We are just a chip off the old block.

The racism, the class structure, the fake "democracy" while fighting real democracy tooth and nail, the imperial attitudes, the government voyeurism and fanaticism about controlling its citizens, like we were their property, you can trace it all right back to the British colonial governments.

It's true, we aren't a totalitarian state yet, but we are not a progressive democracy either, still working on that.