The July 2000 Safe Harbor agreement between the United States and Europe concerning cross-border data flows is one of the key regulatory structures governing how organizations can collect, store, move, and use the massive amount of personal data generated in our interconnected world. Fourteen years after its inception, the agreement is under increasing strain from the rapid pace of technological innovation, high-profile breaches of consumer data, and the continued fallout from the Edward Snowden revelations. The EU and U.S. are in the process of updating the original agreement to reflect these new concerns. The implications for organization data operations and privacy policies could be significant, creating new regulatory structures and demanding new procedures and safeguards.
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With initial approval in the European Parliament civil liberties committee (the so-called LIBE Committee), the EU is moving ahead with overhauling its existing 15-year-old Data Protection Directive, replacing it with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The European Commission introduced the draft GDPR in January 2012 and seeks to harmonize regulations across the 28 member-states, replacing varying national laws with a single, consistent regulation on data handling and individual rights.

This new regime could fundamentally change the privacy and data transfer practices of every large company operating in Europe or offering goods or services to data subjects in Europe, the flows of data within financial services and other firms, and the business practices underlying internet products, cloud computing, or social networks offered to European consumers.
Continue Reading EU Data Protection Rules Might Transform the Internet