The High Court will today hear a judicial review of a decision by the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner not to investigate claims that Facebook allows US intelligence services access to data generated by its European users.
Austrian data privacy campaigner Max Schrems lodged a complaint with the commissioner after US whistleblower Edward Snowden claimed the social network shared European user data with US authorities as part of a surveillance programme called Prism.
Mr Schrems and his “Europe-V-Facebook” group asked the commissioner to investigate the allegations and whether Facebook’s Dublin subsidiary was in breach of EU data protection regulations.
'Frivilous and vexatious'
The group challenged the refusal of the commissioner to investigate the data transfer policies. The Portarlington-based commissioner said the complaint was "frivolous and vexatious" as, in its view, there was nothing to investigate.
Facebook had, in its view, acted within the terms of the EU-US data-sharing agreement dubbed Safe Harbour. This agreement, dating back to 2000, permits transatlantic data transmission by allowing US companies self-certify that they meet European privacy requirements. The commissioner said the agreement also permits data sharing if law enforcement authorities make targeted, limited requests.
