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EU, U.S. Officials Discuss Passenger Data Deal
by Theresa Poulson
Top European Union and U.S. officials met in Berlin on Thursday to discuss security issues, including the looming expiration of data-sharing regulations covering passengers on flights coming into the United States from EU countries.
The EU officials met with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein to discuss the current agreement in which European airlines must share up to 34 items of passengers' personal data -- including addresses and credit card numbers -- in order to land in the United States. The deal is set to expire in July. Officials said they are confident they will reach a new agreement as early as this month.
European Commission Vice President Franco Frattini said protecting privacy should be a chief priority as the United States and the European Union craft a new passenger data agreement.
Frattini told Reuters before the meetings that data privacy would be weakened if the United States replaces the air-passenger data deal with individual deals brokered with EU countries or airlines. He said he wants to determine how long the United States would be allowed to store the data and which agencies should have access to it.
He also said the European Union may ask that the new deal require less information to be provided to U.S. authorities.
At a news conference with Wolfgang Schauble, Germany's top security official, Chertoff defended U.S. demands for passenger information in the process of vetting airplanes for terrorists, AP reported.
"We don't really collect gigantic amounts of data," he said. "It's about 30 information fields, things like your contact phone number and e-mail address."
Chertoff said the information has been "vital in identifying people we need to take a closer look at, many of whom turn out to be criminals or people who are associated with terrorists." He cited the plot last year targeting trans-Atlantic flights that British officials quashed.
Talks also focused on the problem of radicalization and recruitment of terrorist supporters, particularly through the use of the Internet, according to an EU press release.
Schauble, whose country currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, said the European Union and United States must work together closely to combat international terrorism, organized crime and drug-trafficking.
Germany's federal minister of justice, Brigitte Zypries, said the union and the United States must recognize that criminals use the Internet as a medium for those illegal activities.
"As in the case of organized crime, national approaches alone cannot provide the desired results," Zypries said.
Frattini and Schauble also urged the U.S. officials to consider easing visa rules for citizens from some EU countries. While U.S. citizens are not required to have a visa to enter EU countries, EU citizens need visas to enter the United States for stays of up to three months.
Korean Tech World Fears Impact Of Trade Agreement
Providers of music, videos and other multimedia files in South Korea are on the alert after negotiations ended last week for a free-trade agreement with the United States that includes tougher anti-piracy measures, The Korean Times reported.
The deal still needs to be approved by lawmakers in both countries, but some are worried increased copyright protections will hamper the growth of user-created content and music-sharing services.
Internet users also are concerned about possible privacy risks because copyright holders, under the agreement, could more easily access identification and personal information about people they suspect are breaching the copyright regulations. Under the proposed agreement, copyright holders could request the information from government agencies when searching for pirates, rather than first filing criminal charges with the court as they must do now.
A government official told the Times that the ministry will "establish complementary measures to prevent private information from being manipulated." The official also said that "copy" will need to be redefined. "Until now, to define something as a copy we needed a physical trace. There are no regulations on such things in Korea, yet."
The Ministry of Information and Communication reported last year that 16.25 percent of so-called user-created video online was actually created by users. The remainder was edited copies of copyrighted material.
A provision within the agreement places copyright protection on temporary copies of multimedia files, which may impact so-called background music services that stream music to blogs and community service sites. While some such sites pay royalties to the services for their use of the music, some do not. It is expected that under the new trade agreement this will change. Critics disagree since the music is never permanently saved on a computer after it is finished playing.
China Slams U.S. Piracy Complaints
The U.S. decision to file formal complaints against China with the World Trade Organization over copyright piracy and counterfeiting could undermine trade relations between the two countries, Chinese officials said this week.
The BBC reported that China's Intellectual Property Office commissioner, Tian Lipu, said it was "not a sensible move for the U.S. government to file such a complaint."
U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said on Monday that piracy and counterfeiting levels in China remained unacceptably high and despite China's promises to crack down on counterfeit goods, such as clothing and music, many are still widely available throughout the country.
China's official newspaper, China Daily, said the U.S. decision "clearly shows that protectionism is rising in the world's No. 1 economy," according to Reuters.
Wang Xinpei, a Commerce Ministry spokesman, said in a statement on the ministry's Web site that the U.S. decision "will seriously undermine the cooperative relations the two nations have established in the field and will adversely affect bilateral trade."
Chinese Firm Lauded For Eco-Friendly Practices
Meanwhile, the Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo has been recognized by Greenpeace as the world's most environmentally conscious tech firm in the group's quarterly "green ranking."
The report released last week evaluates firms based on their production processes and their efforts to recycle the hardware they sell. Lenovo came out on top of Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Dell, Samsung and 10 other firms profiled -- including Apple Inc., which ranked last.
"Given the growing mountains of e-waste in China -- both imported and domestically generated -- it is heartening to see a Chinese company taking the lead, and assuming responsibility at least for its own branded waste," Iza Kruszewska, Greenpeace International Toxics Campaigner, said in a statement. "The challenge for the industry now is to see who will actually place greener products on the market."
Lenovo, which bought IBM's consumer electronics division in 2005, allows consumers to return broken or obsolete products made by the company, and requires recycling in all the countries where its products are sold.
Apple disagreed with the group's rating and the criteria, BBC reported. The company said in a statement it has a "strong environmental track record and has led the industry in restricting and banning toxic substances."
Since the study was first compiled in 2006, Greenpeace said the tech firms it profiled have improved, but it would not describe any hardware maker as "green."
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