Europe Told US How It Can Handle Spying Crisis

The European Commission has provided the United States with a list of hoops it wants the country to follow before it starts trusting it. This is the result of revelations about National Security Agency and UK spying on everyone under its PRISM program.



The EC said that spying on its citizens, businesses and leaders was unacceptable and that people of European Union and the United States have to be reassured about protection of their personal information. In addition, the businesses also need to be reassured that the existing agreements between the two regions are both respected and policed.

The European Commission announced that it will set out actions supposed to help restore trust and strengthen information protection in transatlantic relations. They listed 6 areas that the European Union and the United States need to do to restore confidence.

The list includes swift adoption of EU's information protection reforms, improving the protection safeguards, and commitment from the United States for making use of a legal framework. The European Commission also wants to address its concerns in the on-going American reform process, as well as promoting privacy standards internationally.

The EC claims that everyone from the users to governments on both sides of the Atlantic want to gain from cooperation, based on strong legal safeguards and trust that they will be respected.