Europeans’ data security concerns “have reached the...

Europeans’ data security concerns “have reached the United States,” said EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding in a speech Sunday (http://bit.ly/1bd62Au). While pressing EU member states to stop “stalling” on enforcing the European Commission’s data security proposals -- which were passed by the European Parliament in October (CD Oct 22 p7) -- Reding praised President Barack Obama’s surveillance reform speech Friday (CD Jan 21 p1). The speech “shows that the awareness in the U.S. that there is a serious problem to tackle seems to go from diplomatic acknowledgement to concrete implementation,” she said. Reding oversaw the EU’s review of the U.S.-EU safe harbor agreement that called on the U.S. to strengthen its privacy protections if it wanted to maintain the agreement (CD Nov 29 p7). Sunday, Reding argued data security changes are “a building block of the digital single market,” she said: “A single set of rules in a crucial sector, consistently applied.” The U.S. and Europe need to ensure they share this set of rules, she said, and “data protection in Europe and the U.S. should be bolstered.” Reding also criticized Europe’s handling of investigations into Google’s privacy policies. “Google has been sanctioned in two countries, France and Spain, and is under investigation in another four, including Germany,” she said. But the fines have been “pocket money” to Google, she said: “Is it surprising to anyone that two whole years after the case emerged, it is still unclear whether Google will amend its privacy policy or not?"