US makes first public comment over draft EU data privacy law

A senior US official has met with European Commission staff in Brussels to share views on the overhaul of EU data protection rules and to assuage fears in Europe about a lack of robustness in the US privacy enforcement regime.

In June 2013 EU-US talks had been held on a new data protection agreement about PRISM, an electronic surveillance program run by the United States. It had been first publicly revealed on the 6 June after classified documents about the program were leaked to the Washington Post and The Guardian. The documents identified several technology companies as participants in the PRISM program, including Microsoft (2007), Yahoo (2008), Google (2009), Facebook (2009), Paltalk (2009), YouTube (2010), AOL (2011), Skype (2011), and Apple (2012).

• Primary Source

EUObserver, 07.05.13: Confusion over EU data bill costs http://euobserver.com/economic/119772

EUObserver, 07.06.13: Spy scandal to impact talks on EU-US data treaty http://euobserver.com/justice/120412

Wikipedia, June 2013: PRISM (surveillance program) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_%28surveillance_program%29

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