EU Data Protection – The Inconvenient Truth

In the wake of the leaks about the NSA's PRISM program and domestic data collection activities, EU officials have, quite predictably, raised alarms that the NSA's programs pose a grave threat to the privacy of EU citizens. In recent days, European Parliament members have been quoted as calling the NSA programs "shocking" and tantamount to the US "spying" on EU citizens. One member of the European Commission asserted that the US was treating Europeans "not as friends but as suspects" and called on the EU to confront the US about data protection. The Attorney General has made efforts to assuage EU officials about the scope of and protections built into the programs, even going so far as agreeing with the EU to convene a group of experts to explore the programs. Yet the response of many EU officials has been hyperbole and hypocrisy.