Fergie's Tech Blog

Tentative EU-US Deal to Limit Use of SWIFT Data

An AP newswire article, via The International Herald Tribune, reports that:

European Union governments have reached a tentative deal with the United States clarifying how it will use data it receives from Belgian-based bank transfer consortium SWIFT in anti-terror investigations, diplomats said Wednesday.

The deal is aimed at ending a trans-Atlantic battle on privacy rights in the hunt for terrorists, and would close a legal black hole over the status of a data transfer deal SWIFT signed with U.S. authorities after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The new draft agreement would bind the U.S. to use SWIFT data strictly in anti-terror investigations, the diplomats said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.

Other uses of the data would have to meet conditions set by European data protection officials, they said.

posted by Fergie @ 6/27/2007 09:45:00 AM