Security.co.uk, 30 Jan 2014: 'Kohnstamm: European fist against NSA surveillance needed'
“The only way to tackle NSA eavesdropping is to make a common European fist. So Jacob Kohnstamm, director of the Dutch Data Protection Authority (CBP), recently revealed during a speech at privacy organisation Privacy First.
(...) Since this is a matter of national security, the EU member states argue that this is their competence and not that of the European Union. However, this European division plays right into the hands of the Americans, Kohnstamm revealed. "Divide and rule is what the United States, but also other superpowers, like to play off against the European Union."
Even if Obama implements all kinds of reforms within the NSA, according to Kohnstamm, the US intelligence agency actually turns out to be a multinational with a budget of unprecedented size. As long as the US distinction between the collection and use of personal data will remain, it will not lead to more privacy for Europeans vis-à-vis organisations like the NSA, he predicts.
"And as long as European countries continue to see security as a purely national competence, we are not going to win this battle between Europe and the US." From the US Congress, Kohnstamm also expects little pressure to crack down on NSA activities. He labels the pressure from US business as hypocritical. "So the only fist we can make is a European fist."
Source: Security.co.uk, 30 January 2014.