Europe’s Justice Commissioner warned Tuesday that data privacy concerns could derail a major trade deal between the U.S. and the E.U.
« The U.S. will have to take European concerns about privacy and data protection very seriously … otherwise, the European Parliament may decide to reject the TTIP, » Commissioner Viviane Reding said at a conference in Washington. […]
Her opinion was echoed in an open letter from nearly 50 civil liberties organizations to the negotiators on Tuesday. « The proposed agreement should exclude any provisions related to patents, copyright, trademarks, data protection and any other form of so-called intellectual property. The negotiations must not lead to a rewriting of patent and copyright rules in a way that tilts the balance even further away from the interests of citizens, » said the letter, which was signed by the European Digital Rights organization EDRi, OpenRights Europe, Bits of Freedom and others. […]
According to the Commission more than 70 percent of E.U. citizens want to have more control over how their data is used online.
http://www.csoonline.com/article/742237/data-privacy-concerns-could-derail-eu-us-trade-talks