European Parliament members criticize EU, U.S. airline data transfer deal STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) =97 European Parliament members (MEPs) said on= =20 Wednesday an arrangement to let airlines transmit private data about their= =20 customers to U.S. authorities hunting "terrorists" broke EU data protection= =20 rules. MEPs from across the political spectrum said the European Commission had=20 been wrong to accept U.S. promises that the data would not be abused and=20 many called for the deal to be suspended. "This agreement threatens the=20 fundamental rights of travellers and puts Europe's airlines over a barrel.= =20 "This arrangement must be suspended until the Commission can come up with a= =20 decision that fully addresses all of these concerns," said British Liberal= =20 MEP Sarah Ludford. To help detect possible terrorists, U.S. Customs now=20 demands airlines send it computerized data which includes names, addresses,= =20 dietary requirements and itineraries of passengers. Since March 5, airlines= =20 face fines if they do not comply. The European Union executive Commission=20 initially said the demand infringed EU data privacy laws and warned=20 airlines they could be prosecuted in the EU if they complied. To avoid=20 that, it negotiated assurances from Washington that the data would not be=20 used improperly. The Commission intends in the coming months to propose changes to EU=20 legislation which would formally allow the data transfers to take place. In= =20 the meantime it hopes the reassurances will prevent any court action from=20 disgruntled travellers, civil rights groups or data protection bodies. But= =20 the MEPs which spoke said the assurances were not enough and they will vote= =20 on Thursday on a non-binding resolution which could call on the Commission= =20 to suspend its interim arrangement. National data privacy watchdogs from EU= =20 states, meeting in Brussels last week, said they also had grave concerns=20 over the legality of the interim measure. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.tha.gov.tt/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************