US / European Union Agreement

The New York Times has reported that the United States and the European Union are nearing an agreement for the exchange of personal data (“U.S. and Europe Near Agreement on Private Data”, The New York Times, 6/28/2008). Strict European laws restrict the way governments and businesses can collect and transfer personal data. The new agreement would make it legal for European governments and companies to transfer personal information to the U.S.

This is an important agreement in the war on terrorism. In fact, the agreement was initiated by the lack of cooperation the U.S. received from European governments and companies when it was investigating the terrorist attacks in September of 2001. There are still important details to work out in the deal. What are the consequences of not protecting the personal data? Can the U.S. be sued if the information is misused or not protected and it gets into the hands of unintended people? We cannot minimize the importance of those details, but the agreement needs to be completed and put into use as quickly as possible.

Another good feature of the agreement is that it sets limits on many types of information that can be transferred. Information regarding race, religion, political affiliation, health, or sexual preferences cannot be transferred.
The globalization of trade and information makes this agreement even more important. As Stewart Baker, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security says, ”Globalization means that more and more companies are going to get caught between U.S. and European law.” We need agreements like this to make sure trade between countries flourishes, but criminals and terrorists can’t find cracks between governmental laws to hide in.