The European Union continues to fight against US spying by the NSA . The European Civil Liberties Committee today voted for new legislation to protect European citizens' data. The new bill aims to reduce US spying and online businesses operating in EU member states. This means that companies such as Google, Yahoo , Facebook and Microsoft will have to comply with European data protection laws when they operate locally. In case of violation , the law provides for high fines of billions of euros to discourage them from ignoring the European Union.
The new bill passed the House Civil Liberties Committee on Monday, as we reported earlier. It had been proposed many years ago, but Washington-friendly figures delayed the vote. However, recent revelations about Edward Snowden have put a lot of pressure on things.
“The European Parliament has just given its full support to a strong and uniform European data protection law,” EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said, as reported by Reuters.
Of course, for the bill to become law, it must be approved by the full Parliament, and by all 28 EU member states.
