For years, the EU has berated the US for bugging US security agencies like the NSA and the FBI on friends and, at the very least, carelessly handling the personal information of European citizens. But Washington is now turning the tables, reports the online magazine Politico, citing several unnamed government members on both sides. On the occasion of the final negotiations on the planned transatlantic data protection framework between the EU and the USA, the US Department of Justice asked increasingly uncomfortable questions about the surveillance and espionage practices of EU states.
Protection of privacy and civil rights
On the priorities raised heard according to the reportwhether countries like Hungary, Poland and France provide sufficient legal remedies for non-EU citizens to defend themselves against excessive local data collection. The US also wanted to know what legal controls European governments have to ensure their spies don’t go too far. It had previously become known that members of the opposition, lawyers and activists, among others, were spied on in the member states mentioned using the powerful state trojan Pegasus from the NSO Group. The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) also procured the spy software.
Relevant checks by both sides are planned in the final phase of the negotiations between the EU and the USA on the Privacy Shield 2.0. They are regarded as a prerequisite for US Attorney General Merrick Garland to set up the redress mechanism promised by the US side. A year ago, both sides assured that the improved approach outlined goes hand in hand with an “unprecedented obligation” on the part of the USA to carry out reforms that strengthen the protection of privacy and civil rights in telecommunications surveillance and radio intelligence.
Eavesdropping actions on both sides
According to the agreement, US security authorities want to “introduce procedures that ensure effective control of the new data protection and civil rights standards” after the NSA scandal. There will also be a “new two-tier appeal system to investigate and resolve complaints from Europeans about access to data by US intelligence agencies.” This will include a special court to examine such submissions.
According to “Politico”, it is unlikely that the required investigations into European surveillance practices will significantly delay the adoption of the new transatlantic data pact. Alex Joel, a professor at American University in Washington and a former senior official at the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence, reported that US officials have long been frustrated that the focus has always been on US wiretapping. However, the area of national security falls within the competence of the European member states. The EU Commission, which is conducting the talks, has no influence on this.
