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European Commission wants answers over NSA spying allegations

Written by James Delahunty @ 14 Jun 2013 1:02 User comments (14)

European Commission wants answers over NSA spying allegations

The European Commission is seeking answers from U.S. attorney general Eric Holder on NSA data requests.
Commission Vice President, Viviane Reding, wrote to Holder expressing concerns that American spying practices could have "adverse consequences for the fundamental rights of EU citizens."

In the letter, Reding highlighted seven areas of concern for the European Commission...
  • Are they only aimed at gathering the data of US citizens and residents, or are they also - or even primarily - targeting non-US nationals, including EU citizens?
  • Is the data collection limited to specific and individual cases and, if so, what criteria is applied?
  • How regularly is the data of individuals collected or processed in bulk?
  • What is the scope of Prism and other such programmes? Is it limited to national security and foreign intelligence, and if so how are such terms defined?
  • How might companies in the US and EU challenge the efforts to access and analyse the data?
  • What ways might EU citizens find out if they have been affected? How is this different to the situation for US citizens and residents?
  • How might EU citizens and companies challenge any effort to access and process their personal data? How does this compare to the rights offered to US citizens and residents?

Reding expects that she will get the answers she seeks on Friday, when she will meet with Holder at the EU-U.S. Ministerial meeting in Dublin, Ireland.



"The respect for fundamental rights and the rule of law are the foundations of the EU-US relationship. This common understanding has been, and must remain, the basis of cooperation between us in the area of Justice. Trust that the rule of law will be respected is also essential to the stability and growth of the digital economy, including transatlantic business. This is of paramount importance for individuals and companies alike," Reding is quoted as saying.

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14 user comments

114.6.2013 01:17

Expect that these organisations pass info onto big corporate.

214.6.2013 01:31

Well mrs. reding i appreciate your concerns but do you not think us "US Citizens" want answers as well? Wait your turn!!!

314.6.2013 02:58

I thought US citizens didn't care as long as it was in the name of terrorism?

414.6.2013 04:22

@Morreale
Come spend some time in the US and speak to the citizens and you will find the majority are just as if not more disgusted with the governments corruption. Democracy in the US Is for the lobbyists not the people. The War on terror campaign is mostly just a ploy to continue extracting the tax payers money to fund their own political agenda, It is also very apparent we are much further concerned with our privacy than allot of countries out there.

514.6.2013 14:34

U.S. is the new North Korea !

614.6.2013 14:45

Originally posted by Menion:
@Morreale
Come spend some time in the US and speak to the citizens and you will find the majority are just as if not more disgusted with the governments corruption. Democracy in the US Is for the lobbyists not the people. The War on terror campaign is mostly just a ploy to continue extracting the tax payers money to fund their own political agenda, It is also very apparent we are much further concerned with our privacy than allot of countries out there.
I understand. I was being sarcastic, partially. I also heard on CBC the other day that there was a pole and like 60% of Americans were cool with it and I was like "you gotta be kidding me". Real curious about what they're actually gonna do about this.

Gotta pick up a package cross-border so I'll be there soon lol

715.6.2013 09:33

@Morreale
No prob man, as for the 60% # sounds a bit high, I think more than being "ok" with it they just know there's nothing they can do about it. In this country most people are sick of War, sick of corruption, sick of invasion of privacy but as you see our president who was NOT elected by the people in the 2nd term but made the majority with "Electoral" votes its obvious the citizens of America really have no say.

It gets frustrating with so many countries hating us, I understand they hate the US government just as we do who televise their propaganda worldwide and have their hands in everyone's cookie jar, and I guess that's the image of our people which molds in their minds and forms their views of us.

As you can see now go to cnn and read the comments on how many people stand behind the source of the leak and watch how they are covering it up by deleting all the most liked comments, further more simply read any other comments posted on related material from the US And you will see how thoroughly we are disgusted with the NSA and the obama administration that laughs in our faces saying we are wrong we have nothing to worry about and this is a "Good Thing" well knowing their all full of shit I hope the supreme court judges nail them to the wall with all the lawsuits pending at this moment...then again I guess that comes out of our pockets once again to pay (Vicious Cycle)

In the end I believe the leak was justified in the respects of info released about what PRISM was and whos info it was going after, but as the part of releasing our hacking attempts on the Chinese government...well that's espionage and certainly could cause severe threats and therefore I hate to say it but he doesn't have much longer to live and it surprises me of all countries he chose to potentially China to defect in, like Russia they will simply use him, abuse him, then dispose of him. I wish him the best of luck and I really hope the info he released will force some sort of change.

815.6.2013 13:31

Originally posted by Menion:
@Morreale
Come spend some time in the US and speak to the citizens and you will find the majority are just as if not more disgusted with the governments corruption. Democracy in the US Is for the lobbyists not the people. The War on terror campaign is mostly just a ploy to continue extracting the tax payers money to fund their own political agenda, It is also very apparent we are much further concerned with our privacy than allot of countries out there.
Beautifully said.

915.6.2013 16:13

Originally posted by Mrguss:
U.S. is the new North Korea !
What a totally moronic statement!

1015.6.2013 18:12

Originally posted by GrandpaBW:
Originally posted by Mrguss:
U.S. is the new North Korea !
What a totally moronic statement!
OK. Choose the country you want.
But for sure is no the America we knew anymore.
No even a Democratic country either after 2010 when #CitizensUnited come to effect.
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 15 Jun 2013 @ 6:13

1116.6.2013 04:37

Originally posted by Mrguss:
Originally posted by GrandpaBW:
Originally posted by Mrguss:
U.S. is the new North Korea !
What a totally moronic statement!
OK. Choose the country you want.
But for sure is no the America we knew anymore.
No even a Democratic country either after 2010 when #CitizensUnited come to effect.
no such thing as a democracy.
elections you are given a group of incompetent people to vote for.
once elected they can pass laws and bills without your knowledge or consent.they run the country and you have no say until next election where you get new incompetent people to vote in.

1216.6.2013 20:08

just before all this hit the news i read Robert Ludlums the Prometheus Deception. talk about prophetic or what.

1317.6.2013 17:09

The main problem with any Government is that only few incompetent people are vote in; Most of those incompetent people are finger into a power position, But in general: they are the same f**kfaces the whole time until they crawl & die.
They only care about $$$ to secure themselfs, their families & their next generation.... and f**k everybody else (us).

1421.6.2013 00:10

Democracy is a work in progress and there are many different forms of it. As long as some percentage of the population gets to vote for a choice then it's a democracy. It has been like that for thousands of years (yes that's right, thousands) believe it or "whatever". You can reasonably argue that some are more fairer than others and/or some are more democratic than others in your opinion but if you rant in extremis "this is no longer a democracy" then you will naturally have trouble getting others to take you seriously.

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