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Irish watchdog won't probe U.S. firms over Prism
Source: Reuters
Irish watchdog won't probe U.S. firms over Prism
By Georgina Prodhan
VIENNA | Thu Jul 25, 2013 10:08am EDT
(Reuters) - A watchdog in Ireland, home to the European headquarters of Apple and Facebook, says it will not investigate them for transferring personal data to a U.S. spy agency because they have signed up to EU privacy principles.
The Irish Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC), had been challenged by an Austrian student activist group to investigate allegations that the U.S. National Security Agency harvests emails and other private data from the companies in a mass electronic surveillance program known as Prism.
But in an email published by the student group, europe-v-facebook, the ODPC said the companies were covered by 'Safe Harbour', a system that allows U.S. firms to certify themselves as compliant with EU data protection law by signing up to a set of principles supposed to safeguard how personal data are used.
The European Union adopted Safe Harbour in 2000, seven years before the NSA began the Prism program that was revealed by fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden last month.
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By Georgina Prodhan
VIENNA | Thu Jul 25, 2013 10:08am EDT
(Reuters) - A watchdog in Ireland, home to the European headquarters of Apple and Facebook, says it will not investigate them for transferring personal data to a U.S. spy agency because they have signed up to EU privacy principles.
The Irish Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC), had been challenged by an Austrian student activist group to investigate allegations that the U.S. National Security Agency harvests emails and other private data from the companies in a mass electronic surveillance program known as Prism.
But in an email published by the student group, europe-v-facebook, the ODPC said the companies were covered by 'Safe Harbour', a system that allows U.S. firms to certify themselves as compliant with EU data protection law by signing up to a set of principles supposed to safeguard how personal data are used.
The European Union adopted Safe Harbour in 2000, seven years before the NSA began the Prism program that was revealed by fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden last month.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/25/us-usa-security-ireland-idUSBRE96O0T420130725