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Issues
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Security Officals Go Global The United States and to a lesser extent the European Union are trying to force international institutions as well as less powerful nations to adopt a wide variety of bad policies as part of the so-called "war on terror." This Website is intended to serve as a central clearinghouse of information and advocacy materials to help citizens, governments, and civil society groups to monitor international bodies and combat this strategy of policy laundering. News EU-US Passenger Data Transfer Deal Annulled by European Court (May 30, 2006) In a long awaited decision from the European Court of Justice, the deal between the EU and the US to transfer passenger reservation data from EU carriers to the US Department of Homeland Security is to be annulled as of September 30, 2006. The decision rejects the legal basis for the agreement, but it may be a pyrrhic victory because the decision focused only on whether the European Commission and the EU Passes Data Retention Law (Dec. 14, 2005) A new European Directive, which allows for the retention of data stemming from telecommunications traffic, was adopted by the European Parliament on 14th December 2005. The Directive is wholly incompatible with the European Union's privacy protection regime in that it allows access to an individual's communications history guided by vague and undefined provisions. Despite the broad implications of and sweeping powers contained within the data retention provision, the Directive was rushed through the Parliamentary process (at the instigation of the UK Government, which is currently chairing the Council of Ministers) without due conisderation or debate |