The Irish data protection watchdog will investigate Max Schrems’ complaint over the privacy practices of the social network. The move follows a 3-year legal fight by the Austrian privacy campaigner. A few days ago, the High Court in Dublin quashed the Irish data protection commissioner’s original refusal to examine the student’s complaint filed on the issue of the alleged movement of his information outside of Europe by Facebook.
According to the High Court, the initial decision had been premised on the validity of the safe harbor agreement, which was recently declared invalid by the European Court of Justice. The most interesting thing is that the latter was declared invalid in another, separate 2-year case involving the same parties – Schrems and Facebook. Therefore, the judge ordered the commissioner to investigate the complaint, while Schrems was awarded costs for his legal bill and travel expenses.
In the meantime, Ireland’s data protection commissioner welcomed the ruling and promised to investigate the substance of the complaint with all due diligence. As for the campaigner, he has long been critical of the Irish who govern Facebook’s operations within Europe and doubts that the Irish Data Protection Commissioner will actually hold the promise. In his case, he believes, both the law and the facts are very clear, so the decision can be made within weeks. Schrems’ last experience was that a complaint takes up to 3 years with no result. Hopefully, this time the investigation will proceed faster.
On its part, Facebook insists that it does not provide the American government direct access to its servers, nor does it recognize the NSA’s surveillance program. However, we shouldn’t forget that the investigation is carried out after the invalidation of the 15-year-old safe harbor agreement, which deemed that EU citizens’ details transferred between the European Union and United States were adequately protected.
As everyone knows, Edward Snowden’s revelations over the NSA’s surveillance practices caused outrage all over the world and provoked the Schrems’ landmark challenge. The privacy campaign activist says that watchdogs in 28 European states are now obliged to accept complaints about the movement of personal data. Schrems also claimed that he was considering other challenges to online companies involved in cloud services.
According to the High Court, the initial decision had been premised on the validity of the safe harbor agreement, which was recently declared invalid by the European Court of Justice. The most interesting thing is that the latter was declared invalid in another, separate 2-year case involving the same parties – Schrems and Facebook. Therefore, the judge ordered the commissioner to investigate the complaint, while Schrems was awarded costs for his legal bill and travel expenses.
In the meantime, Ireland’s data protection commissioner welcomed the ruling and promised to investigate the substance of the complaint with all due diligence. As for the campaigner, he has long been critical of the Irish who govern Facebook’s operations within Europe and doubts that the Irish Data Protection Commissioner will actually hold the promise. In his case, he believes, both the law and the facts are very clear, so the decision can be made within weeks. Schrems’ last experience was that a complaint takes up to 3 years with no result. Hopefully, this time the investigation will proceed faster.
On its part, Facebook insists that it does not provide the American government direct access to its servers, nor does it recognize the NSA’s surveillance program. However, we shouldn’t forget that the investigation is carried out after the invalidation of the 15-year-old safe harbor agreement, which deemed that EU citizens’ details transferred between the European Union and United States were adequately protected.
As everyone knows, Edward Snowden’s revelations over the NSA’s surveillance practices caused outrage all over the world and provoked the Schrems’ landmark challenge. The privacy campaign activist says that watchdogs in 28 European states are now obliged to accept complaints about the movement of personal data. Schrems also claimed that he was considering other challenges to online companies involved in cloud services.