US and EU agree on "Private Shield" framework for transatlantic data flow

The European Union accepted the Private Shield law that would allow US companies to transfer Europeans’ private data to servers across the ocean. Striking down the previously reached agreement over US surveillance concerns, the European Union accepted the Private Shield law that would allow US companies to transfer Europeans’ private data to servers across the ocean. “Today member states have given their strong support to the EU-US Privacy Shield, the renewed safe framework for transatlantic data flows,” Commission Vice-President Andrus Ansip and Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova announced in a statement, also adding that the agreement ensures “a high level of protection for individuals and legal certainty for business.” The agreement is aimed at replacing its predecessor, the Safe Harbor framework with the US, which the EU’s top court struck down last October as “invalid” following Edward Snowden’s revelations in 2013 of mass spying by US intelligence authorities. The Privacy Shield was first introduced and agreed upon in February, but its implementation was then delayed by European data protection regulators as they demanded more “security guarantees”, while expressing concerns over “the possibility that is left in the Shield for bulk collection which if massive and indiscriminate is not acceptable.” The new deal now grants greater guarantees to European customers and provides “accessible and affordable redress mechanisms” in case any disputes concerning US spying arises.