US to extend privacy protection rights to EU citizens
Source: The Guardian
US to extend privacy protection rights to EU citizens
Ewen MacAskill, defence and security correspondent
theguardian.com, Wednesday 25 June 2014 19.59 BST
The Obama administration has caved in to pressure from the European Union in the wake of Edward Snowden's revelations on surveillance by promising to pass legislation granting European citizens many of the privacy protection rights enjoyed by US citizens.
The proposed law would apply to data on European citizens being transferred to the US for what Washington says is law enforcement purposes.
After the first Snowden revelations appeared in June last year, the Obama administration irritated many by insisting that while US citizens were protected by law from snooping by US spy agencies, this did not apply to non-Americans.
On Wednesday the US attorney general, Eric Holder, promised at a US-EU meeting of home affairs and justice ministers in Athens that legislation would be sent to Congress to extend the US Privacy Act to EU citizens.
[font size=1]
-snip-[/font]
Read more:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/25/us-privacy-protection-rights-europe