Schrems: It’s Unlikely New Safe Harbor Deal is Coming Soon
“After a second review of the European Court of Justice's (ECJ) judgment (see 1510060001), it will be very hard to come up with a solution that addresses all problems identified by the Court, given the U.S. position,” said Max Schrems,…
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whose questions about the U.S. government’s access to his Facebook data prompted a review of safe harbor, in a post for the International Association of Privacy Professionals’ Privacy Perspectives blog Thursday. “While all issues brought up by the ECJ could be solved in theory, the U.S. government will very likely not be able or willing to limit surveillance laws to an extent that they comply with all requirements of the Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR) in respect to the right to privacy,” Schrems said. “The attempt to enact a Judicial Redress Act and the proposed 'Umbrella Agreement' show that the two sides can only reach agreement for very limited safeguards, that are far from what the ECJ now requires.” A new agreement will have to include much stricter restrictions on businesses, Schrems said. U.S. businesses that comply with surveillance by U.S. authorities like the Prism program, which according to documents shared by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden include AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, “may require serious reorganization,” Schrems said.