Today the European Court of Justice invalidated the “Safe Harbor” agreement that allowed thousands of US companies to transfer personal data from Europe to the US, including personal data of employees at their European subsidiaries. As the WSJ wrote:
In a victory for privacy advocates, the European Court of Justice ruled that national regulators in the EU can override the 15-year-old “Safe Harbor” pact used by about 4,500 companies, including Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, because it violates the privacy rights of Europeans by exposing them to allegedly indiscriminate surveillance by the U.S. government.
Leaving aside the legalities, this ruling indicates a rising mood of digital protectionism which is likely to hurt Europe far more than the US. Data traffic flows both ways, after all, and efforts to keep personal data inside the EU is likely to end up keeping useful data out as well. The future belongs to those countries who participate fully in the global digital economy.
