Euro Group Filed Complaints Against Banking Group That Gave Data to U.S.

Group Tries to Block Program Giving Data to U.S.

By DAN BILEFSKY
Published: June 27, 2006

BRUSSELS, June 27 — A human rights group in London said today that it had lodged formal complaints in 32 countries against the Brussels-based banking consortium known as Swift, contending that it violated European and Asian data protection rules by providing the United States with confidential information about international money transfers.

Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, said the organization filed the complaints in the hope of halting what it called "illegal transfers" of private information by Swift, whose full name is the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications.

The complaints were filed in all 25 member nations of the European Union, plus Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Iceland. The group said it also filed a complaint in the semiautonomous Chinese territory of Hong Kong.

"Swift appears to have violated data protection rules in Europe by making these transfers without the consent of the individuals involved, and without the approval of European judicial or administrative authorities," Mr. Davies said. "The scale of the operation, involving millions of records, places this disclosure in the realm of a fishing exercise rather than a legally authorized investigation."

The Bush administration has defended the program as an important part of its campaign against terrorism. But Europe and the United States are increasingly at odds over how to protect civil liberties while pursuing terrorists.

more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/27/world/27cnd-secure.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

effects them? Does GW know this because I think he thinks hes king of the world.

why the bush crowd is so pissed off.

over only to have them piss in your potted plants and rummage through your medicine cabinet.

I hadn't realised until I read mention of it within links to the subject that you don't have equivalent an Data Protection Act with the strength of ours in the UK and similar ones in Europe. I was also puzzled why the DPA hadn't already been mentioned in connection with Swift in our news here. Chances are that Swift will suffer severe penalties on this issue assuming they still exist at all after the fat lady sings.