如果一家美國企業有歐洲用戶或客戶,而且會將個人數據傳到美國供企業使用,那么它就應該了解歐盟最高法院的動向。
因為歐洲法院(CJEU)近期做出了一項重要裁決。最后結果可能是企業無法再為歐盟的用戶提供服務,即便不是現在,不遠的將來也會發生。
隱私保護
如果美國企業利用歐洲用戶的個人數據,那么就要提出合法理由。因為美國并沒有歐盟級別強大的聯邦隱私法(或者說根本沒有全面的聯邦隱私法)。
到目前為止,保持合法性最簡單的方法就是加入所謂的“隱私之盾”成員,只要能自證遵守歐盟的規定即可。而“隱私之盾”是根據美國和歐盟2016年達成的同名跨大西洋協議制定。
如今當初的協議宣告結束。7月16日,歐盟委員會宣布取消協議并立即生效,主要有兩個原因:一是即便相關企業已經是成員,協議并未阻止美國情報部門調用企業數據;二是歐盟公民在美國沒有有效的申訴手段。
美國商務部的反應是,在某種意義上這仍然是商業問題。商務部對裁決發布了一份表示失望的聲明,稱將“繼續管理‘隱私之盾’項目,包括處理提交給‘隱私之盾框架’的自證和重新證明,以及維護‘隱私之盾’成員名單。”
美國商務部還補充稱,“當前的決定并不能免除企業參與‘隱私之盾’承諾的義務?!?
而歐洲人卻不敢茍同。套用巨蟒劇場《死鸚鵡》短劇的臺詞就是:“隱私之盾”已經死了;完了;離開了人世,謝幕了,給上帝唱詩去了。這是一份死協議。
因此,你可以繼續遵守成員義務,盡可能尊重歐盟隱私法。但在歐洲人看來,從歐盟往美國傳輸數據傳輸不再合法。而之前加入“隱私之盾”就是為了讓數據傳輸合法。
(不過,在美國遵守承諾可能仍然有法律上的原因?!叭绻麉⑴c隱私之盾的企業做出隱私承諾,那么不履行承諾就可能因為欺詐而受到處理?!盇lston & Bird律師事務所的高級律師彼得?斯維爾說。)
7月16日,數據創新中心(Center for Data Innovation)的高級政策分析師艾琳?奇沃特在一份聲明中詳細介紹了影響:“這一決定對歐洲和美國5000多家將歐美隱私之盾作為跨大西洋數據傳輸法律依據的企業造成了嚴重沖擊。如今數據傳輸的依據會立刻推翻,很多情況下歐美之間的數據傳輸將中止,而且多家企業并沒有合適的替代方案。”
標準合同條款
但如果隱私之盾并不是數據傳輸唯一的法律依據呢?
Facebook(涉及此案)和微軟之類的美國公司多年來一直依賴“標準合同條款”的機制。顧名思義,都是由歐盟委員會撰寫已就緒的條款,概述了一系列符合歐盟嚴格的《通用數據保護條例》的權利和責任。
盡管法院可以撤銷“標準合同條款”,但其并未這么做。
法院稱,“標準合同條款”總體上沒有什么問題,如果有企業違反相關條款或無法遵守相關規定,比如說因為企業無法阻止本國情報部門對數據進行大規模監視,法院則可以根據具體情況宣布條款無效。
這也是為何對Facebook以及其他依賴標準合同條款將歐洲數據傳輸到美國的美國大型科技公司來說,推翻隱私之盾體系是個問題。
2013年斯諾登事件曝光導致美國監控法做出了有限改革,但《外國情報監視法》(FISA)第702條仍然允許從大型科技公司大量收集非美國人的私人數據。
美國一些人認為,只有當相關機構真正查看數據時,監控才真正開始,而查看數據是更受限制的活動。但歐洲人認為,監控從收集就已經開始。所以在歐洲人看來,美國經常對歐洲人的數據進行大規模監控,而處理數據的美國公司對此無能為力。
這種現象已經非常嚴重,會破壞隱私之盾(及其前身安全港)。因此,如果Facebook等企業使用的標準合同條款受到歐盟隱私監管機構的挑戰,很難想象將如何繼續。
“盡管原則上標準合同條款體系將保留,剛開始已經簽訂的標準合同將保持有效,但必須由數據保護當局根據(歐盟法院)的裁決進行審查,如有必要予以暫停?!钡聡皵祿Wo主管彼得?沙爾在博客中寫道。
現在怎么辦?
當然,為歐洲人提供服務的美國企業并非每家都是Facebook或谷歌。如果并沒有出現美國專門機構根據FISA第702條審查收集的數據,比如航空公司或零售商,那么仍然可以援引標準合同條款。
而現在最大的不同在于,必須首先說服歐盟隱私監管機構,歐洲客戶的數據在美國并未受到監控。
“援引標準合同條款的數據出口商和進口商首先必須核實(數據流向國家)的保護水平。進口商還有義務向出口商報告出現的問題?!盝MW律師事務所的合伙人托尼?維塔萊在一份聲明中表示。
如果企業的業務中處理歐洲人的個人數據對履行用戶合同屬于“必要”,比如電子郵件提供商處理郵件數據,那么根據歐盟法律也沒有問題。
“法庭明確強調,隱私之盾無效不會造成‘法律真空’,因為至關重要的數據流仍然可以繼續?!痹诓脹Q通過后,提起訴訟的訴訟當事人馬克斯?施雷姆斯發表聲明稱。
但無論規模大小,現在很多美國企業可能仍然在四處奔忙尋找法律解決方案,解決7月16日上午突然降臨的問題。
目前唯一可靠且一勞永逸的解決方案就是修改美國隱私和監視法。估計硅谷很快就會加強相關方面的游說。(財富中文網)
譯者:Feb
如果一家美國企業有歐洲用戶或客戶,而且會將個人數據傳到美國供企業使用,那么它就應該了解歐盟最高法院的動向。
因為歐洲法院(CJEU)近期做出了一項重要裁決。最后結果可能是企業無法再為歐盟的用戶提供服務,即便不是現在,不遠的將來也會發生。
隱私保護
如果美國企業利用歐洲用戶的個人數據,那么就要提出合法理由。因為美國并沒有歐盟級別強大的聯邦隱私法(或者說根本沒有全面的聯邦隱私法)。
到目前為止,保持合法性最簡單的方法就是加入所謂的“隱私之盾”成員,只要能自證遵守歐盟的規定即可。而“隱私之盾”是根據美國和歐盟2016年達成的同名跨大西洋協議制定。
如今當初的協議宣告結束。7月16日,歐盟委員會宣布取消協議并立即生效,主要有兩個原因:一是即便相關企業已經是成員,協議并未阻止美國情報部門調用企業數據;二是歐盟公民在美國沒有有效的申訴手段。
美國商務部的反應是,在某種意義上這仍然是商業問題。商務部對裁決發布了一份表示失望的聲明,稱將“繼續管理‘隱私之盾’項目,包括處理提交給‘隱私之盾框架’的自證和重新證明,以及維護‘隱私之盾’成員名單。”
美國商務部還補充稱,“當前的決定并不能免除企業參與‘隱私之盾’承諾的義務。”
而歐洲人卻不敢茍同。套用巨蟒劇場《死鸚鵡》短劇的臺詞就是:“隱私之盾”已經死了;完了;離開了人世,謝幕了,給上帝唱詩去了。這是一份死協議。
因此,你可以繼續遵守成員義務,盡可能尊重歐盟隱私法。但在歐洲人看來,從歐盟往美國傳輸數據傳輸不再合法。而之前加入“隱私之盾”就是為了讓數據傳輸合法。
(不過,在美國遵守承諾可能仍然有法律上的原因?!叭绻麉⑴c隱私之盾的企業做出隱私承諾,那么不履行承諾就可能因為欺詐而受到處理?!盇lston & Bird律師事務所的高級律師彼得?斯維爾說。)
7月16日,數據創新中心(Center for Data Innovation)的高級政策分析師艾琳?奇沃特在一份聲明中詳細介紹了影響:“這一決定對歐洲和美國5000多家將歐美隱私之盾作為跨大西洋數據傳輸法律依據的企業造成了嚴重沖擊。如今數據傳輸的依據會立刻推翻,很多情況下歐美之間的數據傳輸將中止,而且多家企業并沒有合適的替代方案。”
標準合同條款
但如果隱私之盾并不是數據傳輸唯一的法律依據呢?
Facebook(涉及此案)和微軟之類的美國公司多年來一直依賴“標準合同條款”的機制。顧名思義,都是由歐盟委員會撰寫已就緒的條款,概述了一系列符合歐盟嚴格的《通用數據保護條例》的權利和責任。
盡管法院可以撤銷“標準合同條款”,但其并未這么做。
法院稱,“標準合同條款”總體上沒有什么問題,如果有企業違反相關條款或無法遵守相關規定,比如說因為企業無法阻止本國情報部門對數據進行大規模監視,法院則可以根據具體情況宣布條款無效。
這也是為何對Facebook以及其他依賴標準合同條款將歐洲數據傳輸到美國的美國大型科技公司來說,推翻隱私之盾體系是個問題。
2013年斯諾登事件曝光導致美國監控法做出了有限改革,但《外國情報監視法》(FISA)第702條仍然允許從大型科技公司大量收集非美國人的私人數據。
美國一些人認為,只有當相關機構真正查看數據時,監控才真正開始,而查看數據是更受限制的活動。但歐洲人認為,監控從收集就已經開始。所以在歐洲人看來,美國經常對歐洲人的數據進行大規模監控,而處理數據的美國公司對此無能為力。
這種現象已經非常嚴重,會破壞隱私之盾(及其前身安全港)。因此,如果Facebook等企業使用的標準合同條款受到歐盟隱私監管機構的挑戰,很難想象將如何繼續。
“盡管原則上標準合同條款體系將保留,剛開始已經簽訂的標準合同將保持有效,但必須由數據保護當局根據(歐盟法院)的裁決進行審查,如有必要予以暫停。”德國前數據保護主管彼得?沙爾在博客中寫道。
現在怎么辦?
當然,為歐洲人提供服務的美國企業并非每家都是Facebook或谷歌。如果并沒有出現美國專門機構根據FISA第702條審查收集的數據,比如航空公司或零售商,那么仍然可以援引標準合同條款。
而現在最大的不同在于,必須首先說服歐盟隱私監管機構,歐洲客戶的數據在美國并未受到監控。
“援引標準合同條款的數據出口商和進口商首先必須核實(數據流向國家)的保護水平。進口商還有義務向出口商報告出現的問題?!盝MW律師事務所的合伙人托尼?維塔萊在一份聲明中表示。
如果企業的業務中處理歐洲人的個人數據對履行用戶合同屬于“必要”,比如電子郵件提供商處理郵件數據,那么根據歐盟法律也沒有問題。
“法庭明確強調,隱私之盾無效不會造成‘法律真空’,因為至關重要的數據流仍然可以繼續?!痹诓脹Q通過后,提起訴訟的訴訟當事人馬克斯?施雷姆斯發表聲明稱。
但無論規模大小,現在很多美國企業可能仍然在四處奔忙尋找法律解決方案,解決7月16日上午突然降臨的問題。
目前唯一可靠且一勞永逸的解決方案就是修改美國隱私和監視法。估計硅谷很快就會加強相關方面的游說。(財富中文網)
譯者:Feb
If you're an American company with European users or customers, and you transfer their personal data to the U.S. for company use, you need to be aware of what just went down at the EU's top court today.
That's because the Court of Justice (CJEU) just made a huge ruling. The upshot: It's possible you will no longer be able to serve people in the EU—if not now, then in the not-too-distant future.
Privacy Shield
U. S. companies using Europeans' personal data need some sort of legal justification for doing so. That's because the U.S. lacks an EU-strength federal privacy law (or indeed any comprehensive federal privacy law at all).
By far the easiest way to keep things legal was to sign up to the so-called Privacy Shield register—essentially, self-certifying that the company will stick to EU rules. This register was created under a transatlantic deal of the same name, struck between the U.S. and EU in 2016.
That deal is now dead. The CJEU on July 16 canceled it with immediate effect, basically for two reasons: It didn't stop U.S. intelligence from poking around companies' data even if they were on the list, and there was no effective way for EU citizens to file a complaint about this in the U.S.
The U.S. Department of Commerce reacted by indicating it would be, in a sense, business as usual. In a statement expressing disappointment with the ruling, the department said it would "continue to administer the Privacy Shield program, including processing submissions for self-certification and recertification to the Privacy Shield Frameworks and maintaining the Privacy Shield List."
It added, "Today’s decision does not relieve participating organizations of their Privacy Shield obligations."
The Europeans beg to differ. To paraphrase Monty Python's Dead Parrot sketch, Privacy Shield has passed on; it has kicked the bucket; it has shuffled off its mortal coil, run down the curtain, and joined the bleeding choir invisible. It is an ex-agreement.
So you can continue to abide by the register's obligations—essentially, respecting EU privacy law as best you can—but that no longer means your EU-U.S. data transfers are legal in European eyes. Which was the whole point of the register to start with.
(There may still be a legal reason to keep those promises over in the U.S., though. "Companies that have made privacy promises under Privacy Shield could be subject to enforcement for deceptive practices if they do not live up to those privacy promises," said Peter Swire, a senior counsel at law firm Alston & Bird.)
Eline Chivot, senior policy analyst at the Center for Data Innovation, described the impact well in a statement July 16: "The decision delivers a severe blow to the operations of over 5,000 European and American companies who use the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield as the legal basis for transatlantic data transfers. It will immediately upend, and in many cases even halt, data transfers between the EU and the United States, leaving many businesses with no suitable alternative."
Standard contractual clauses
But what if Privacy Shield isn't your only legal basis for those transfers?
Some U.S. companies such as Facebook (the firm involved in this particular case) and Microsoft have for years also been relying on a mechanism called "standard contractual clauses," or SCCs. These are, as the name suggests, oven-ready clauses that the European Commission wrote, again outlining a range of rights and responsibilities in line with the EU's strict GDPR privacy law.
The court did not strike down SCCs, though it had the option to do so.
It said SCCs were fine in general because an EU privacy regulator can still invalidate them on a case-by-case basis if a company is breaking the clauses' terms or is unable to stick to them—because, say, it can't stop the intelligence services back home from conducting mass surveillance on the data.
This is where the striking-down of the Privacy Shield becomes a problem for Facebook and any other big American tech company relying on SCCs to send Europeans' data over to the U.S.
Although the Snowden revelations of 2013 led to some limited reforms in U.S. surveillance law, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) still allows for the mass collection of non-Americans' personal data from Big Tech firms.
Some in the U.S. argue that surveillance starts only when the agencies actually look at the data—which is a more restricted activity. But the Europeans see surveillance as starting at the point of collection. So in European eyes, the U.S. regularly conducts mass surveillance on Europeans' data—and there's nothing the U.S. companies handling that data can do about it.
That's serious enough to have scuppered Privacy Shield (and its predecessor, Safe Harbor), so it is difficult to see how the SCCs used by a company like Facebook can survive if challenged before an EU privacy authority.
"Although the system of standard contractual clauses will remain in principle and the standard contracts concluded will initially remain in force, they will have to be reviewed and, if necessary, suspended by the data protection authorities in the light of the [CJEU] ruling," wrote former German data protection chief Peter Schaar in a blog post.
So what now?
Of course, not every American company serving Europeans is a Facebook or Google. If you don't have U.S. agencies scrutinizing your data under Section 702 of FISA—if, for example, you're an airline or a retailer—then SCCs could still work for you.
The big difference now is that you'll first have to convince EU privacy regulators that European customers' data isn't subject to surveillance in the U.S.
"Data exporters and importers using the standard contract clauses must verify the level of protection in the [country where the data is going] first. The importer also has a duty to report any issues to the exporter," said Toni Vitale, a partner at JMW Solicitors, in a statement.
And if your processing of Europeans' personal data is "necessary" for the fulfillment of your user contracts—if you're an email provider handling emails, for example—then that's also automatically kosher under EU law.
"The court explicitly highlighted that the invalidation of the Privacy Shield will not create a 'legal vacuum' as crucially necessary data flows can be still undertaken," Max Schrems, the litigant who brought the case, said in a statement after the ruling came through.
But an awful lot of U.S. companies, big and small, are still likely to be flailing around now, looking for a legal solution to a problem that abruptly landed in their laps on July 16 morning.
The only reliable, long-term solution would be changes in U.S. privacy and surveillance law. Expect to see Silicon Valley's lobbying efforts step up on that front very soon.