Anonymous writes "the Register has a story about the recent deal between U.S. Customs and the European Union on the sharing of data on air passenger manifests. The dispute placed airlines in the uncomfortable position of being unable to comply with the data protection standards of both the EU and US at the same time. Presumably at the meeting last week, the US gave the EU sufficient "assurances" required by the EU data protection directive regarding US privacy laws. Privacy advocates seem less reassured.
It seems many of the criticisms voiced are actually protections contained in the US privacy laws (5 USC 552a), such as right of amendment (subsection (d)(2)) and audit trails (subsection (c)). While no one likes The Man taking in even more data when He has trouble analyzing what He already collects, does your average netizen think the Privacy Act of 1974 is chopped liver? Do Europeans even know about it? Shouldn't their concern be that the US Privacy Act does not apply to them (under 552a's "definitions") instead of complaining that the US has no data protection law at all?
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