Snowden revelations impact The European Union
The Snowden revelations generated a great deal of noise in the discussions around privacy, security and data protection. However, in the absence of any specific decision-making process (apart from the Data Protection Regulation), much of the reaction was in the form of platitudes.
- Les révélations de Snowden alimentèrent beaucoup les débats sur la vie privée, la sécurité et la protection des données. Cependant, en l'absence d'un quelconque processus décisionnaire explicite (à l'exception du Règlement sur la Protection des Données), beaucoup des réactions prenaient la forme de platitudes.
On July 2013 Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding announced a review of
the Safe Harbor Agreement, which was adopted in order to permit transfers of
personal data in a way which was recognised by the EU as being compliant
with the 1995 Data Protection Directive. This review led to the creation of
thirteen recommendations that Commission Vice-President Reding sent to her
US counterparts to address some of the flaws of the agreement.
- En Juillet 2013 la Commissaire à la Justice, Viviane Reding, annonça un examen de l'Accord Sphère de Sécurité, qui avait été adopté pour permettre le transfert de données personnelles d'une façon reconnu par l'Union Européenne comme étant en accord avec la Directive sur la Protection des Données de 1995. Cet examen mena à l'élaboration de treize recommandations que Reding, la vice-présidente de la commission, envoya à ses homologues américains pour adresser certains défauts de l'accord.
As the failings of Safe Harbor were already an open secret, it is difficult to
determine how much influence the revelations created. However, judicial
redress for EU citizens, both as part of an update of Safe Harbor and in the
context of a planned umbrella agreement on data protection in the law
enforcement sector, are currently being negotiated between the EU and the
US. While this latter agreement has been collecting dust in the Commission's
drawers since the negotiations started back in 2010, the Snowden revelations
have heavily contributed to a relaunch of the talks, as evidenced by the
strength of a letter from Commissioner Reding to the US Attorney General in
reaction to the PRISM revelations.
- Étant donné que les défaillances de la Sphère de Sécurité était déjà un secret de polichinelle, il est difficile d'évaluer quelle influence eurent les révélations. Cependant, une réparation judiciaire pour les citoyens européens est actuellement négocié entre l'Union Européenne et les États-Unis, à la fois à travers la révision de la Sphère de Sécurité et par un accord-cadre prévu dans le domaine répressif sur la protection des données. Alors que ce dernier avait été abandonné dans les tiroirs de la Commission depuis le début des conversations en 2010, les révélations de Snowden ont fortement contribué à la reprise des pourparlers, comme le montre la fermeté de la lettre de la Commissaire Reding au Procureur Général américain en réaction au révélations de PRISM.
However, a more comprehensive - albeit non-binding - response came from
the European Parliament. From September 2013 to February 2014, the
European Parliament's inquiry received testimonies from tech experts,
whistleblowers, journalists, privacy experts, representatives of EU members
states and EU intelligences agencies and a written testimony from Edward
Snowden. Subsequently, the Parliament has adopted a report which includes
seven recommendations intended to guarantee more robust protections of EU
citizens’ fundamental rights.
- Cependant, une réponse plus complète - bien que non contraignante - fut donnée par le Parlement Européen. De Septembre 2013 à Février
The revelations also had an impact on the draft Data Protection Regulation
being negotiated in the European Parliament. In particular, in the aftermath of
the disclosures on the PRISM programme, Members of the Parliament
proposed modifying the Data Protection Regulation in order to reinsert Article
42, the so-called “anti-FISA clause”. Safeguards had been included in an
early draft of the Commission's proposal for data protection rules, which said
that authorities in third countries could have access to EU data only if the
transfer was covered by a specific legal agreement. These safeguards were
deleted from the final version of the proposal published in January 2012
because of lobbying by US authorities. This article has been successfully
reintroduced and adopted by the European Parliament last March under the
new Article 43.a.
The European Court of Justice had to rule on a case on the legality of the
data retention regime in the ten months following the Snowden revelations. It
is impossible to assess if, or how much, this context may have influenced the
Court. However, the outcome was a ruling which overturned an invasive
surveillance measure and which cast several more such instruments and
planned instruments into doubt.
The Snowden disclosures hit a nerve for many EU politicians, undermining
trust in their Transatlantic cohorts. However, apart from the additional and
limited safeguards in the Data Protection Regulation, the revelations have
largely been limited to rhetoric on the challenges of preserving fundamental
rights in the digital age. It remains to be seen whether these words can be
translated into meaningful reform.