Privacy groups hail "freedom from surveillance" in European court's Facebook ruling
Private industry was in a rage while privacy groups were elated on Tuesday over a new ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) affirming European citizens' right to privacy from American tech companies. On Tuesday, the European court ruled in favor of Max Schrems, an Austrian graduate student who asked that EU's data protection commissioner bar Facebook from transmitting his personal data to the US on the grounds that many tech firms had cooperated with the National Security Agency.
Transmission of personal data had previously been covered by a "safe harbor" agreement between Europe and the US that allowed tech firms to share the data with explicit consent from their customers. Businesses that operate in Europe must now make sure they are compliant with the EU's own laws before they subject their customers' personal information to laxer restrictions in the US, the court said.