Deutsche Welle, 4 July 2013
The
European Parliament has called on the US to reveal the extent of its electronic
spying operations in Europe. The debate came in the wake of revelations by
whistleblower Edward Snowden on the PRISM spy operation.
The
European Parliament has called on the United States to give details about its
surveillance of email and communications data. Parliamentary members threatened
an end to information-sharing deals, created in the wake of the September 2001
al Qaeda attacks in the US, should Washington refuse.
The
existing EU-US agreements are the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP) and
Passenger Name Records (PNR.) The TFTP gives the US Treasury department data
stored in Europe on international financial transfers. The PNR covers data
provided by passengers when booking tickets and checking in on flights. The
information is then sent to the US Department of Homeland Security.
The
parliament cannot revoke the agreements without the support of European Union
governments and the bloc's executive Commission. Neither looks likely to give
its approval to the parliamentary initiative.
US officials
have confirmed the existence of an electronic spying operation codenamed PRISM.
According to security whistleblower Edward Snowden, the operation collects data
from European and other users of Google, Facebook, Skype and other US
companies. Separately, the US was accused of eavesdropping on EU offices and
officials.
The
parliamentary debate has shown the level of anger over the revelations from
former intelligence operative Snowden.
Some
members called for a suspension of talks on a EU-US free trade deal, due to
start next week. The trade deal will be negotiated by the European Commission
on behalf of the 28-nation bloc. Parliament can veto the final agreement which
gives it some influence in the talks.
Also on
Thursday, French newspaper Le Monde reported that France's foreign intelligence
agency (Direction Generale de la Securite Exterieure) systematically collects
information about all electronic data sent by computers and telephones in
France, as well as communications between France and abroad.
According
to Le Monde, data on "all emails, SMSs, telephone calls, Facebook and
Twitter posts" are collected and stored in a three-floor underground
bunker at the DGSE's headquarters in Paris.
jm/rc (Reuters, AFP)
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