EU Court Ruling Signals Break With U.S. Surveillance System

[leveymg]

The Other Blowback: NSA Spying Threatens Continued US Commercial Operation of the World-Wide Web

In its decision yesterday banning a 2004 EU-U.S. passenger data sharing agreement, the EU Court of Justice held that it is illegal for European aviation concerns to knowingly provide NSA/DHS and U.S. contractors with personal information that is protected by EU privacy laws. See, http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNe...

Expect to see more rulings from EU and other international courts that forbid transfer of personal data to U.S. intelligence agencies and stricter limits on information sharing with private sector concerns that allow their databases to be harvested, such as U.S.-based telecom networks.

The deepening NSA spying scandal imperils a wider range of international information sharing agreements that involve privacy concerns. This threatens the leading position that the U.S. has had until now enjoyed over access and control of World Wide Web operations and the rules that govern how it operates. The consequences could be a huge commercial loss to American IT firms, as well as a breakdown in a single, uniform system of protocols that govern Internet communications, arrangements that currently benefit U.S. firms.

The illegal warrentless interception of global information flows threatens previous information sharing agreements, such as the Internet domain registry and global cell phone protocols that are currently run by U.S. firms. The two top Internet and global cell phone domain registrars, VeriSign and NeuStar, have been recently revealed to be main providers of warrantless surveillance to the NSA. The biggest U.S.-based telecoms and Internet registrars have benefited from huge federal contracts for sale of data on network users. See, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/20/16437/4670 ; http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/26/11367/6684 .

American firms such as AT&T, VeriSign and NeuStar that operate as common carriers or network registries have been cooperating with the Bush Administration's vacuum cleaner approach to data mining. In so doing, they have violated U.S. and foreign laws, as well the terms of agreement with customers and other telecom concerns that use the same data networks. These companies face severe commercial and legal consequences if they continue to fail to protect the privacy interests of their customers and other network users.

U.S. telecom companies are just beginning to see the downside to the rush to cash in on Bush Administration spying contracts. The cost may be the loss of American dominance over Internet operations, one of the last sectoral advantages enjoyed by U.S. firms.

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2006, Mark G. Levey

[mod mom]

1. Great news. Let's hope the EU and other countries punish companies who

are willing to hop in bed w surveillance agencies through loopholes w third party companies, like Neustar, and Choicepoint.

[leveymg]

2. There are two remaining Superpowers: the US and world opinion.

Maybe there's a third: global commerce, markets and the courts that operate where law still means something.

If I have any hope that there's a restraining influence on the Bush Administration's mad rush to war in Iran, and a police state at home, that would be it.

Of course, there were similar forces at work before both World Wars of the 20th Century. So, keep your fingers crossed.