Google wants the US to extend the Privacy Act to EU citizens

The US government should give European citizens whose personal data is sent to U.S. authorities the same privacy protections that American citizens already enjoy in the EU, Google’s top lawyer has said ahead of trans-Atlantic talks. Commission officials will be in Washington on Thursday for further discussions about the data protection umbrella agreement the EU has been negotiating with the US since March 2011.

Google has announced that it’s urging the US Government to extend the privacy rights afforded to US citizens to European countries with an extension of the US Privacy Act. Announced today in a blog post, the company said European citizens should have the right to challenge misuse of personal data, as US citizens can already in the EU. This is an opinion already shared by President Obama. “We understand that governments have a duty to protect their citizens. The emergence of ISIS and other new threats have reminded us all of the dangers we face. But the balance in the US and many other countries has tipped too far in favour of the state and away from the rights of the individual — rights that are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Google’s Chief Legal Officer David Drummond wrote.