Revised EU-US agreement on PNR data still protects only travel companies, not travelers


The Identity Project web site reports:

On November 17, 2011, US and European Union officials signed a renegotiated proposed agreement (original English version; official German translation) to authorize airlines to forward PNR data (travel reservations) to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). As an executive agreement, not a treaty, it doesn’t require any further US approval, but it does require ratification by both by Council of the EU (national governments of EU members) and the European Parliament.

The US is mounting an exceptionally intense high-level lobbying and public propaganda campaign on this issue in Brussels. But despite the importance of the issue, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have only been allowed to read the proposed agreement in a sealed room, and have been forbidden to take written notes or speak publicly about what the revised proposal says.

To facilitate informed public debate, we are publishing the full text of the proposed agreement in English and German. This is the final versions as signed, on which the Council and Parliament will be voting, possibly as soon as the end of this year.

The full english text of the agreement is apparently available here.