Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems has filed complaints against websites that continue to send EU data to the United States in alleged violation of a recent ruling from the EUs top court, he said today.
In July, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that a data flows agreement between the European Union and the United States called Privacy Shield did not offer adequate protection for EU data from U.S. snooping following a complaint from Schrems. Negotiations are already under way to replace the annulled agreement.
In the same ruling, the Luxembourg-based court upheld the legality of instruments used to export data out of Europe, called Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs). But it required EU privacy watchdogs to suspend data transfers to any country where EU standards cannot be met, opening the way for challenges based on the surveillance systems of other countries.
On Tuesday, Schrems filed 101 complaints with data regulators across Europe against websites that still use tools like Google Analytics or Facebook Connect, which transmit user data to their parent companies in the U.S.
“Neither Google Analytics nor Facebook Connect are essential to run these webpages and are services that could have been replaced or at least deactivated by now,” said Schrems in a statement.
Facebook and Google use SCCs for EU-U.S. data transfers, but both are subject to U.S. snooping laws deemed disproportionate by the Luxembourg court.
“The Court was explicit that you cannot use the SCCs when the recipient in the U.S. fRead More – Source
