Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2013-06-11-Speech-2-039-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20130611.4.2-039-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Madam President, the events of the last few days, and the information published by the
last week with regard to the top-secret US surveillance system ‘PRISM’ enacted by the National Security Agency (NSA), allegedly in cooperation with world IT giants like Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Skype, YouTube and AOL – trusted major companies – have caused shock to our European citizens.
The S&D Group is very clear that, while security is important, this has caused a major breach of trust for our citizens. We in the S&D Group regard it as vitally important that, at the ministerial meeting on 13 and 14 June, the Parliament and all the political groups give the Commissioner support in holding Eric Holder and the United States to account for what they have done in allegedly transferring bulk information belonging to our citizens. Such transfers may be completely unnecessary in the fight against terrorism and in the fight for security of our citizens, and represent a breach of trust in the way that data is secured and in the fight against terrorism and to maintain security. It is vital to maintain the right balance between security and the need to protect data.
The reports in the
the
and the
seem to show that these companies, required by the NSA to share information for anti-terrorism purposes under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and upon secret FISA court orders, agreed to do so and provided US intelligence agencies with access to their servers, and possibly enabled the US intelligence community to send queries directly to company-managed secure online rooms.
We are particularly concerned that generalised access to, and mass processing of, EU citizens’ data for law enforcement or other purposes may have taken place under the responsibility of the above-mentioned companies in the framework of this programme in a way that is non-compliant with the EU data protection legislation in force. We are also worried by the absence of an overall transatlantic legal framework ensuring the protection of personal data, especially considering that negotiations on an umbrella data protection agreement between the EU and the US have been ongoing since 2011 but seem currently to be stalled.
For all of these reasons, we wish to ensure that the Commissioner holds the US to account and ensures that when the US public authorities process US citizens’ data, they do so within our standards. Secondly we wish to reaffirm our commitment to a high-level agreement on the proposed data protection reform package, along the lines originally defined in our proposals and reinforced by amendments tabled by the EP rapporteurs and shadows on improving protection requirements.
In this context, we deem it quite clear that an EU legal framework for data protection, law enforcement and security purposes by public and private actors remains extremely relevant and cannot in any way be delayed.
Finally, we believe that special attention must be paid to issues related to data protection and data flows in negotiations on the important EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) Agreement, in order to ensure that primary EU legislation in this field is maintained. We are well aware of the Commission’s commitment to hold the US to account in relation to data flows, but it is extremely important, in the light of the PRISM and NSA issue, that EU citizens are given assurances as to what can happen.
In my own Member State, the United Kingdom, there is serious concern about what has happened. Trust has clearly been breached. It is now up to the EU to play its role in ensuring that we hold the United States to account for what it has done in this case, that our standards are maintained and that EU citizens are assured that the right standards are maintained."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples