歐洲高法裁決：數據保護法不足以保護隱私
The highest court in Europe has ruled in favor of an Austrian student who complained that a trans-Atlantic data protection agreement does not do enough to shield the privacy of users of the U.S.-based social media network Facebook.
The court said privacy regulators in Ireland, where Facebook's European operation is based, must now decide whether the network's transfers of information from Europe to the United States should be suspended.
The Safe Harbour agreement has been in effect for 15 years, developed as a way to allow U.S. firms to exchange data with Europe without violating European privacy laws. More than 4,000 U.S. firms use the provisions in dealing with their trans-Atlantic business.
Technological privacy has been in the spotlight in both Europe and the United States since information surfaced two years ago through U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden that the United States had been spying illegally on Europeans and other non-U.S. citizens.歐洲最高法院星期一做出對一名奧地利學生有利的裁決。該學生抱怨說，跨大西洋數據保護協議沒有對美國社交媒體網絡臉書（Facebook）使用者的隱私提供足夠保護，
歐洲最高法院說，臉書在歐洲的運作中心愛爾蘭的隱私權監管機構必須決定是否應當暫停將信息從歐洲傳送到美國。
跨大西洋數據保護協議、既所謂的安全港協議已經實施了15年。這個協議允許美國公司在不違反歐洲隱私法的條件在美國和歐洲進行數據交換。美國四千多家公司都依照這個協議來處理跨大西洋業務。
美國國家安全局前合同工斯諾登兩年前披露美國對歐洲和其他非美國公民進行非法監查。在那之後，高科技涉及的隱私一直在歐洲和美國受到關注。
