U.S. Must Pass Judicial Redress Act To Demonstrate International Privacy Leadership

The recent invalidation of the U.S.-E.U. Safe Harbor Agreement by the European Union Court of Justice has demonstrated that the U.S. must enact privacy laws that protect non-U.S. citizens from law enforcement over reach.  The Snowden NSA revelations that were first revealed in 2013 not only angered many American citizens and civil rights advocates, but they also created a schism with Europe regarding government surveillance and digital privacy.

   

For the past 15 years, companies that do business across the Atlantic have relied on the U.S.-E.U.Safe Harbor Agreement to transfer personal data from the E.U. to the U.S. While this agreement was not perfect, it created a mechanism that was consistent with E.U. data protection directives that enabled companies to process and utilize personal digital data without running afoul of E.U. privacy laws.

Austrian privacy advocate Max Schrems' challenge against Facebook regarding how it handles the data it collects from E.U. users was the catalyst behind the demise of Safe Harbor.  E.U.data protection authorities have given lawmakers in the U.S. and the E.U. three months to negotiate a new treaty to replace the Safe Harbor’s data privacy protocols.  Under E.U. law, personal information may be exported if it is provided the same protections that are offered in the E.U. 

U.S. digital privacy protections are generally stuck in the 1980’s and many of our laws did not anticipate how technology would change over time.  While privacy has been a fundamental human right in the E.U. since 1950, U.S. digital privacy rights have been slow to evolve to catch up with how we are utilizing the many life changing services and devices that are now being deployed. 

Congress is working on strengthening our digital privacy rights but the process has been slow and arduous.  Fortunately, yesterday’s passage of the Judicial Redress Act in the U.S. House of Representatives which will enable foreign citizens to have the same legal rights as U.S. citizens if law enforcement violates their personal privacy rights is a step in the right direction.  While the bill still must be passed in the Senate and signed by the President to become law, this development demonstrates that we are on the right track and hopefully this will help lead to a new U.S.-E.U. Safe Harbor data agreement.  

This legislation and others such as ECPA reform, and the Law Enforcement Access To Data Stored Abroad Act (LEADS) are much needed bills that must be enacted to demonstrate that we will be a beacon for digital privacy rights.  We can have both privacy and security while respecting fundamental human rights.  However, we must showcase this leadership by enacting digital privacy laws that equally protect both U.S. and foreign citizens.  

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