Harsch Co-Authors Op-Ed on Global Data Privacy
Michael Harsch, Visiting Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published an op-ed in The Washington Post on an update to European data policy set by a recent Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decision.
In the article, Harsch and co-authors Vlagyiszlav Makszimov, journalist with EURACTIV, and David Ramsey, attorney with Kaufmann Gildin & Robbins, discuss the recent CJEU decision to invalidated the Privacy Shield, a key mechanism that businesses use for transferring personal data across the Atlantic. The court also set clear limits on standard contractual clauses (SCCs), the other main tool that businesses use to transfer data, which could mean trouble for big companies like Facebook and Google that rely on that data for their business.
Harsch, Makszimov, and Ramsey describe how the CJEU ruling is a reflection of Europeans’ increasing concerns about data privacy over security concerns. The authors conclude by arguing that the extraterritorial application of E.U. privacy rules could lead to stronger international standards and progress towards greater privacy rights in the U.S.
An excerpt:
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) found that the Privacy Shield did not protect European citizens against U.S. surveillance, and suggested that contractual clauses would only work for transfers of data to jurisdictions that had equivalent privacy protections to the European Union. This means trouble for Facebook and other similar companies that rely on these data flows as part of their business model, as well as other big companies.
The full op-ed can be read here.
Michael Harsch is a Visiting Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Pardee School and a Fellow at the NYU Center on International Cooperation (CIC). His research examines global and local institutions’ role in promoting security, effective government, and economic development, with a focus on fragile and conflict-affected states. He is the author of The Power of Dependence: NATO-UN Cooperation in Crisis Management (Oxford University Press, 2015). Read more about him here.