By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BRUSSELS, European Union – The European community has related US surveillance to Cold War behavior that threatens privacy and trade agreements. Simultaneously, the EU’s highest court vetoed the “right to be forgotten” when it comes to Google and other entities that are not “controllers” of information.

On June 6, Edward Snowden revealed Prism and Tempora, US and UK surveillance programs that received mass data from several companies operating with similar capacities in both the US and Europe.

Through Tempora, the UK taps into approximately 200 cables that connect Britain to the global internet. While holding content for three days and metadata for thirty days, British and US authorities filtered everything to discover information of interest. Additionally, Britain is considered one of the world leaders in CCTV, which monitors public spaces.

Professor Richard J. Aldrich of Warwick University in Britain said, “It’s about what the CIA calls the electronic exhaust fumes of our lives, and the algorithms that allow patterns to be found.”

While the US generally considers privacy a matter of liberty, the European Convention on Human Rights and UK’s Human Rights Act require European countries to respect the right to private life.

In response to the programs, EU officials demanded more details as assurances that fundamental privacy rights were not violated.

European countries issued various responses, based on their legal and historical philosophies. Germany has been particularly sensitive about its citizens’ privacy since the Soviet Era. Previously, Germany has forced Google to allow citizens to blur their own homes on “Street View” of Google Maps. France, Italy and Greece also expressed outrage upon learning that they were targets of US surveillance. Nevertheless, no country has granted Snowden asylum.

In a state visit by US President Barack Obama to Germany, President Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed on the benefits of sharing surveillance and intelligence. “Although we do see the need for information gathering,” said Chancellor Merkel, “there needs to be due diligence.”

Frank La Rue, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Freedom of Expression and Opinion urged countries to consider communications surveillance as “a highly intrusive act that potentially interferes with the rights to freedom of expression and privacy and threatens the foundations of a democratic society.”

Nevertheless, on June 25, the EU’s highest court ruled against the European “right to be forgotten” on the internet. In that case, a Spanish man complained that Google refused to delete the auction for his repossessed house from searches. Google argued that there are “clear societal reasons why this kind of information should be publicly available.”

Advocate General Niilo Jääskinen stated in his opinion that “[r]equesting search engine service providers to suppress legitimate and legal information that has entered the public domain would entail an interference with the freedom of expression.”

Where Britain, through the BBC, could make surveillance of “legitimate and legal information” part of the public domain and argue that both national security and government transparency require the information’s availability, the lines marking the reasonableness of secret and confidential surveillance are blurred.

For further information, please see:

CNN International – Snowden’s Asylum Options Dwindle – 2 July 2013

Al Jazeera – Bugging row threatens EU-US trade deal – 1 July 2013

Al Jazeera – UK Surveillance Exposes Lack of Privacy – 28 June 2013

Reuters – German Minister Challenges Britain over Spying Program – 26 June 2013

BBC News – Google Not Obliged to Delete Data, Rules EU Lawyer – 25 June 2013

The Independent – EU Court Rules in Google’s Favour: ‘Right to be Forgotten’ – 25 June 2013

Reuters – UPDATE 1-Google Vindicated by EU Court Opinion on Search Index – 25 June 2013

Reuters – UPDATE 2-Google Vindicated by EU Court Opinion on Search Results – 25 June 2013

New York Times – Obama Says Surveillance Helped in Case in Germany – 19 June 2013

The Sydney Morning Herald – Germany Widens Its Web of Surveillance – 17 June 2013

New York Times – Differing Views on Privacy Shape Europe’s Response to U.S. Surveillance Program – 14 June 2013

Bloomberg Businessweek – Europeans Ask if Prism Has Been Spying on Them, Too – 11 June 2013

The Guardian – Europe Warns US: You Must Respect the Privacy of Our Citizens – 11 June 2013

The Guardian – Prism Scandal: European Commission to Seek Privacy Guarantees from US – 10 June 2013