ANKARA
The European Court of Justice is set to decide whether U.S. companies including Facebook have violated the privacy of Europeans in a case launched in light of revelations by NSA-whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The ECJ started hearing a case on Tuesday referred by the Irish High Court on the spy scandal involving the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the PRISM surveillance program which could have major implications for how date flows between Europe and the U.S. and how U.S. Internet companies operate in Europe.
The Facebook case was filed by Max Schrems, an Austrian Law student who has campaigned against Facebook over alleged violation of users' privacy, including its alleged violations of European privacy laws and transfer of personal data.
He has accused Facebook of violating the Safe Harbor agreement, a policy deal between the U.S. Department of Commerce and European Union to regulate the way U.S. firms handle personal data including the names and addresses of European companies.
He is also calling for European data to be protected.
'Frivolous case'
Schrems argues Snowden's revelations have revealed Facebook ignored agreed privacy terms.
Snowden, an American computer specialist, leaked classified information from several top-secret United States mass surveillance programs in 2013, claiming that the U.S., with the cooperation of telecommunication companies and European governments, had violated privacy rights.
Schrems launched the court case in Ireland where Facebook’s European operations are based.
The Irish Data Protection Commission (IDPC) claimed they were bound by the Safe Harbor agreement and the case was referred to the European Court of Justice in June 2014.
Judge Duncan Hogan of the Irish High Court referred the case to the ECJ after the IDPC rejected Schrems claims and refused to make any investigation into the matter, saying the claimant's legal arguments were "frivolous and vexatious".
Private data intercepted
Schrems' lawyer Noel Travers said at the court hearing on Tuesday that "mass surveillance is manifestly incompatible with the fundamental right to privacy and data protection".
The ECJ has to consider whether the Safe Harbor agreement is effective after Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA was intercepting private data.
If the Safe Harbor agreement is cancelled, most U.S. companies will face great difficulty in transferring data from Europe to U.S. data storage centers.
Most U.S. Internet companies including Facebook have allowed the U.S. government to access European user data on a mass scale for law enforcement, espionage and "anti-terror" purposes, in what is widely believed to be a violation of EU privacy law.
The ECJ will make its final decision after the Advocate General's final hearing in 24 June 2015.
Some companies including Twitter have said that they will build a data center in Europe.
Facebook has yet to comment.
