Why Facebook and Ireland are arguing over transatlantic data transfer
Ireland has ordered Facebook to stop sending EU user data to the US. And Facebook has taken legal action against the Irish Data Protection Commission.
Facebook initiated legal action against the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) on Friday 11 September. The Menlo Park group thus responded to the preliminary order imposed by the Irish regular to prevent him from transferring data from the EU to the United States. The Reuters agency reported.
In fact, the Irish Privacy Authority had established that Facebook's EU-US data transfer mechanism “cannot be used”.
This is the first time that an EU privacy regulator has taken such an action, Key4biz stressed.
The move by the Irish authority follows a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union.
In July, the Court invalidated the Privacy Shield, a legal framework that regulates transfers of personal data from the EU to the United States.
At the same time, the Court held that the standard contractual clauses (SCC), an alternative legal mechanism for the transfer of data from the EU to a third country, continue to be valid.
WHAT THE IRISH REGULATOR HAS ESTABLISHED
On Wednesday, Mark Zuckerberg's social network said in a blog post that in August the Irish Data Protection Commission had launched an investigation into how it transfers European user data to the United States.
The Irish authority also argued that standard contractual clauses (SCCs) cannot be used in practice for EU-US data transfers.
However, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, the Irish data regulator has sent Facebook a preliminary order to stop the transfer of user data from the EU to the United States.
The Privacy Guarantor of Ireland oversees Facebook's data practices in Europe and can fine it up to 4% of its global revenue for breaking European data protection laws.
According to the WSJ , the Irish Commission sent out the preliminary order to stop the data transfer in August, giving Facebook until mid-September to respond to the order.
THE POSITION OF FACEBOOK
In its blog post, Facebook urged regulators to take "a pragmatic and proportionate approach until a long-term sustainable solution can be achieved."
The US social media giant also said the EU Court of Justice found the Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) valid in July.
Adding that: "We will continue to transfer data in accordance with the recent ruling of the Cgue and until we receive further information."
THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE JUDGMENT ON "PRIVACY SHIELD"
In fact, last July the highest European court ruled that the main transatlantic data transfer agreement between Brussels and Washington – Privacy Shield – was invalid due to concerns about US surveillance.
However, the judges confirmed the validity of the transfer mechanism known as standard contractual clauses (SCC).
THE TRANSFER OF TRANSATLANTIC DATA
Thousands of companies are moving Europeans' data around the world for services ranging from cloud infrastructure, data hosting, payroll and finance to marketing.
With the recent ruling, the European Court stressed that, under the SCC, national privacy guarantors must suspend or prohibit transfers outside the EU if data protection cannot be guaranteed in other countries.
THE FEARS ABOUT STAR AND STRIPS SURVEILLANCE
Indeed, the transatlantic argument stems from EU concerns that the surveillance regime in the United States may not respect the privacy rights of EU citizens when companies transfer their personal data to the United States for commercial use.
HOW THE MENLO PARK GROUP WILL MOVE
Although the Commission's approach was subject to further process, Facebook warned that “if followed, it could have a far-reaching effect on businesses. The latter operate on the basis of the SCCs and online services on which many people and companies rely ”.
In its post, Facebook said that "the reason for invalidating the Privacy Shield has created significant uncertainty, not just for US tech companies."
The tech giant also said it was defining its position on how to proceed with international data transfers together with a task force from the European Data Protection Board.
"Our priority is to ensure that our users, advertisers, customers and partners can continue to use Facebook's services while keeping their data safe," reads the Facebook post. We will continue to transfer the data in accordance with the recent ruling of the Cgue and until we receive further information ”.
But from words, Zuckerberg's company moved on to deeds. Facebook filed legal action against the Irish Data Protection Commission on Friday. In an attempt to stop the preliminary order to prevent the transfer of EU-US data.
At the moment the Irish Privacy Authority has declined to comment.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/perche-facebook-e-irlanda-battibeccano-sul-trasferimento-transatlantico-dei-dati/ on Fri, 11 Sep 2020 14:30:04 +0000.