[PAULYPOKER]

‘NSA spying a blow to US-EU trade deal’

The disclosure of the U.S. government’s massive surveillance programs presents setback to free-trade discussions between the European Union and the United States, says Bill Jones from Executive Intelligence Review.

In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday, EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding expressed “serious concerns” for the privacy rights of European citizens who are “using major U.S. online service providers.”

According to top-secret information disclosed to The Guardian and Washington Post, a secret program codenamed PRISM has given the National Security Agency access to emails, web chats, and other private communications from large Internet companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Skype.

“There are more restrictions of course on this intrusion in people’s private lives within the European Union countries. They were somehow taken aback by the extent of measures being taken by the NSA,” Jones said in a phone interview with Press TV’s U.S. Desk on Wednesday.

“It [the disclosure] is now creating a major conflict between the EU and the U.S. with regard to the upcoming trade deals because obviously they [Europeans] are not so intent on allowing their own citizenry and their own institutions being enveloped in this massive operation by the National Security Agency of the United States,” Jones added.

The NSA leaks come as European trade ministers are expected to approve the EU’s negotiating mandate for a free-trade agreement with the U.S. on Friday.

ISH/HJ
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[PAULYPOKER]

EU warns US of spying on European citizens


EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding

The European Union has warned the United States that its massive surveillance of Internet traffic has “grave adverse consequences” to the privacy rights of European citizens.

In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday, EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding demanded answers regarding the newly-disclosed U.S. spying program.

“I have serious concerns about recent media reports that United States authorities are accessing and processing, on a large scale, the data of European Union citizens using major US online service providers,” Reding wrote in her letter, The Financial Times reported.

Reding is scheduled to meet Holder at an EU-U.S. justice ministers' conference in Dublin on Friday.

The secret program codenamed PRISM, first reported by The Guardian and Washington Post, has given the U.S. National Security Agency access to emails, web chats and other private communications from large Internet companies such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and Skype.

Reding said the spying scheme could undermine intelligence cooperation between the United States and the European Union

The EU commissioner set out seven detailed questions in her letter and warned the U.S. attorney general that the European Parliament “is likely to assess the overall transatlantic relationship also in the light of your responses.”

According to U.S. law, the government cannot snoop inside the country but its spies can freely eavesdrop on the communications of foreigners who also might live in countries with close ties to Washington.

The European Union’s objection to U.S. surveillance comes as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a constitutional challenge on Tuesday accusing the government of massive spying on American citizens via major phone and Internet companies.

The Justice Department has started a criminal investigation into the leaks of the surveillance programs. Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old tech specialist and former NSA contractor has unmasked himself as the source of the leaks.

HJ/HJ

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