Ordinary citizens with no connection to terrorism are caught up in surveillance by the US, but have little right to redress, Dublin’s Commercial Court heard on Friday 10th February. US attorney, Ashley Gorski, who specialises in US surveillance for the American Civil Liberties Union …
Ordinary citizens with no connection to terrorism are caught up in surveillance by the US, but have little right to redress, Dublin’s Commercial Court heard on Friday 10 th February.
US attorney, Ashley Gorski, who specialises in US surveillance for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told the court that US surveillance law allows “extraordinary access” to the private data of non-US citizens.
Gorski was speaking on the 4 th day of a three week hearing into the legality of data transfers between the EU and the US brought by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, following an original complaint by Austrian lawyer, Max Schrems against Facebook.
The case, which will test the legality of legal agreements – known as Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) – which allow data transfers between the EU and the US, has potentially huge implications for US-EU privacy rights.
Gorski, told the court that the American government claims “broad authority” to acquire communications and data of non-US people located abroad.
The vast majority of those subject to US surveillance have “no viable avenue” to get “meaningful “ redress for violation of their rights resulting from such surveillance, she said.
