Aktion Freiheit statt Angst e.V. appeals to the EU-Parlament

Aktion Freiheit statt Angst e.V. (Freedom not Fear)has written a letter to the members of the European Parliament with arguments against the agreement on the transfer of passen

ger data to the USA.

To the Members of the European Parliament

Agreement on the transfer of passenger data to the USA

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen
The EU-US passenger data agreement (PNR) is currently under consideration in the European Parliament. The Berlin Action Network “Freiheit statt Angst e.V.” (Freedom Not Fear) has already viewed the previous practice of passenger data disclosure as a violation of fundamental rights.
The attempt of the European commission to put the access to European passenger data by US authorities on a legal basis is in principle correct. However the current agreement still does not even meet the requirements of the European Parliament. We view this data transfer as an infringement of the basic right of “free move­ment”, which is guaranteed according to article 12 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights.
The following aspects of the agreement concern us in particular:

• The agreement does not regulate the “transfer” of data (push), but the “deduction” of the data by US authorities (pull). A „push method“ was not enforced.
• The retention period and “depersonalization” of PNR data are ineffective and can easily be avoided, since the Computer Reservation Systems still contain master-copies of PNR data which can be accessed by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at any time.
• The fact that individuals are entitled to “request” access to their passenger data at the DHS is not very helpful, because the DHS can’t be forced to answer such requests. In practice, an US court can’t review decisions made by the DHS as the Hasbrouck/DHS case has recently shown. ( http://papersplease.org/wp/2012/01/24/first-rulings-in-our-lawsuit-over-dhs-travel-records/ )
• The attempt to “anonymise” passenger data is effectless, if master-copies are still accessible to the DHS via Computer Reservation Systems.

Synchronization of mass data and statistical procedures, like data-mining that are done in order to evaluate a possible “threat” might lead to false suspicions. The more data gets collected and connected, the more innocent people come into the firing line, while the chance to escape the grid increases for acArbeiten wir weiter daran die Mitglieder des europäischen Parlaments von den Gefahren der Fluggastdatenweitergabe zu überzeugen, damit bald alle Vertretungen der Europäischen Kommission datual criminals. This has recently been calculated on the basis of the US-No-Fly-Lists by the US American security expert Bruce Schneier ( http://www.schneier.com/essay-052.html ).
That is why we want to encourage you to vote against the present agreement.

With kind regards,
Ricardo Cristof Remmert-Fontes Dr. Rainer Hammerschmidt

Lets work together to show the dangers that a detention of passenger data wil have. So some day all EU Commissions may bear the NoPNR-Seal. ;-))

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