Following on from my recent post about the interim agreement reached between the US and the EU on passenger data, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has filed a claim against the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The deal reached between the US and the EU allows 34 pieces of information about EU passengers flying to the US to be passed automatically to the US authorities for security reasons. Now the EFF wants to know how the collected data is handled, maintained, used, disclosed and secured and has asked the DHS to provide such information under the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
The DHS has failed to respond to the EFF’s request and, as a consequence, the EFF has filed a claim under the FOIA in the District Court in Columbia seeking access to records. “Those travelling between Europe and the United States deserve to know who gets to see that data, how the information is protected, and whether those practices comply with EU law”, says Marcia Hofmann of EFF. The concerns that the US authorities have in relation to those flying to US airports is understandable after the events of 9/11; however, some fear that terrorism is being used as an excuse for undermining rights to privacy and data protection.
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