Since the revelations of Edward Snowden, there has been a wave
of data privacy repercussions in Europe. Snowden, the former CIA
employee and US National Security Agency (NSA)
contractor, disclosed top secret NSA documents which revealed the
operational details of covert global surveillance programs which
engaged in internet surveillance as well as the interception of US
and European telephone metadata.
On 17 January 2014, President Obama acknowledged that high-tech
surveillance poses a threat to civil liberties and announced that
certain changes will be made to the US government's
surveillance programs. The two main changes being that of having
legal authority to engage in the surveillance activity and the
possibility of appointing a third party to hold the data being
monitored, as phone companies do not want the cost or
burden.
