There’s been an ongoing discussion between the US and Europe (and other countries as well) about the US’s demands that anyone flying to the US should have all sorts of data passed along to the US first. And while an agreement has been made, apparently the rapporteur in charge of examining this issue of sending passenger data to the US, Sophie in’t Veld, is now urging the EU to reject the agreement.

The key issue appears to be that the details of the current agreement violate existing European rights and rules — including the fact that the US will retain this data forever (contrary to some claims that it would just be held for 15 years — which was already problematic). Apparently, the agreement goes so far as to give US law enforcement a direct login to European computer systems, so they can sift through reservation data at will. Basically, this is yet another case of US law enforcement overreaching in what it wants to be able to spy on, and just assuming that everyone will go along with it, despite a lack of clear reason for why. Now, what remains is whether or not EU officials will give in.

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