Brussels, 17/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 16 December, a US federal judge questioned the constitutionality of Washington's surveillance programme, the French news agency AFP reports, believing that the large-scale collection of individuals' telephone metadata (such as numbers called and the length of calls) without judicial consent constituted an “invasion of privacy”.
The technology that governs the surveillance programme is “quasi-Orwellian”, in the judge's view. “Surely, such a programme infringes” the values defended by the fourth amendment of the US Constitution on the protection of privacy. The judge thus “ordered the government to stop collecting data on the personal calls” of the Verizon accounts of the two plaintiffs, Larry Klayman and Charles Strange. The government will also have to destroy all their data already collected.
Considering the legal novelty of the situation, the judge has nevertheless given the government six months to appeal, and the court of appeal will have to rule on the substance of the issue.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said it hopes that the considered decision of the judge will contribute to the debate in Congress on the reforms needed to bring the NSA surveillance activities back into line with the Constitution.
The European Commission said on Tuesday that this is only a preliminary opinion and that the final judgment must be awaited. Nevertheless, “this is what we said in our report of 27 December”, say the staff of European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding. “An exemption (with respect to privacy) under national security cannot become a general rule” and “it's good that a US court sees things as we do”. This confirms “that it is necessary to take action, to review powers, and to provide for safeguards - both for American citizens and European”.
This judgment from the US judge should also strengthen Reding in her resolve to reach a swift agreement on her reform of European data protection rules - a reform which is having a bumpy ride in the Council. On Monday afternoon, during a hearing at the European Parliament, Reding directly sought the backing of MEPs against the Council and urged the MEPs to vote well before the elections (the civil liberties committee gave its opinion back on 21 October). “We made good progress under the Irish Presidency. What we need now is decisions, and I think that with the Greek Presidency this is perfectly possible”, Reding said. A meeting in Athens at the end of February could serve as a new springboard for the reform, Reding believes. (SP/transl.fl)