EU Gives US Data on Euros Traveling

national | miscellaneous | news report

Monday February 24, 2003 19:59

by no borders

How they nabbed Bernadette Devlin McAliskey....

Civil liberties groups critical of data deal on flights to US
By Denis Staunton and Sorcha Crowley

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/front/2003/0221/1361115274HM1VISAS.html

Civil liberties groups have condemned a deal agreed this week between the European Commission and US Customs officials to share passenger information on transatlantic flights.

Under the agreement, airlines will be obliged to supply US officials with each passenger's name, itinerary, contact phone number and other details, such as credit card numbers, at least 15 minutes before each flight leaves Europe for the US.

The list of names will be checked against a US anti-terrorist database before each flight lands in the US.

The US deputy Customs commissioner, Mr Douglas Browning, has given Commission officials assurances about the "appropriate handling" of the data.

A spokesman for the Transport Commissioner, Ms Loyola de Palacio, said the arrangement satisfied US legal requirements while respecting European data protection laws.

"We were fully behind the Americans in their fight against terrorism and we wanted to promote co-operation and flexibility. Of course we have this very difficult legal situation. We think assurances given by the United States are sufficient on the law."

The new agreement, which comes into force on March 5th, is a transitional system and a permanent arrangement will have to be approved by EU governments and the European Parliament.

This week's agreement on exchanging passenger data comes after months of negotiations.

Commission officials say that, in the absence of a deal, Washington would have imposed new visa requirements on EU citizens travelling to the US.

Irish citizens travelling to the US on holidays or business for 90 days or less are currently allowed to enter the country without a visa, an arrangement that was felt to be under threat if the EU and US failed to reach an agreement.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties said the agreement eroded privacy rights enjoyed by EU citizens under data protection laws.

Mr Liam Herrick said the agreement "will have a huge impact - besides these details, any information which the US Attorney General deems necessary can be requested", said Mr Herrick.

He said the biggest single danger was the absence of data protection in the US. "We've reasonably sophisticated data protection here but there is huge potential for this information to be shared among several US agencies such as the CIA, the FBI, Immigration and Tax services."

The Air Transport Users Council of the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland reacted with unease "at the overall thrust of the policy". Chairman Mr Tadhg Kearney said while they understood that post 9-11 there was a new context, they wondered if this response was proportionate.

"One suspects it is disproportionate. The EU have not asked for any reciprocal information from the US and one wonders will they be asking for such details from passengers on internal flights within the US," said Mr Kearney.

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Comments (2 of 2)

Get the yanks to block this and save your asses again.

by ours are better than yours

Mon Feb 24, 2003 20:55

If I had any money, I'd bet it that the one way to prevent the EU rolling over on this one would be to ask for similar details of all passengers (including soldiers with guns going to war perhaps) travelling from the US. Congress already shot down the TIA act which attempted to crossreference data about US citizens for use by the feds.
What's the betting that Americans wouldn't allow their government to do this if it was bilateral.

Then again, American terrorists would probably feel no need to leave home, and even if they did, well who knows where Europe France is anyway, somewhere near where they make TVs perhaps......

any chance of seeing the list?

by iosaf mac diarmada - no borders and no US holidays

Tue Feb 25, 2003 17:02

As far as I know "·the lists·" are very secret.
There are several. The proscribed organisation list of the State department. (lost of long arabic names). recently got irish and basque names. and a organisations under surveillence list. (those who haven´t got into the proscribed catagory). However other than AlQaeda suspects there are no lists openly available. It is in our interest to know how many people have been "·black-listed·".

The presence of a "·black list·" has long been suspected. There are over a thousand names circulated in Europe as being undesirable elements for Football matches. THis same legislation has allowed intelligence files on protesters as well. There are thousands of individuals whose social security and health insurance numbers have been subject to "adminstrative error". There are thousands of individuals whose academic qualifications and careers have been subject to the same annoying errors that make finding a job, earning a living and obtaining medical attention difficult. which seems so terribly poo especially since so many of those said poor unfortuanates went through so many hours waiting for "their Effin numbers" in the first place. Such poor show of the State authorities to lose them. No wonder there are some who call for the end to such States.
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EU Gives US Data on Euros Traveling

Comments (2 of 2)