Washington -- Thursday 14 April, 2011
I was part of a very successful trip to Washington with my committee, Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE). We were part of a visit to discuss EU-US data protection agreement currently under negotiation, the sharing of airline passenger details and European bank transfer details with US authorities for security purposes, the implementation of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP) agreement and cyber security.
The EU and the United States are constantly improving cooperation in fighting terrorism and organised crime as well as seeking to protect the fundamental private rights and liberties of our citizens. It was important to discuss that balance between security and fundamental rights at this stage where there are a number of upcoming EU-US agreements to which the European Parliament will be asked to give consent.
I gave a key-note speech to senate on Cyber Security, where I drew attention to how the US and EU must work together to face up to this threat, and to deal with it for the protection of our citizens.
The European Commission claims that the cost of cyber crime in the EU, at €750 billion annually, vastly exceeds drug trafficking and is equivalent to 1% of global GDP.
I said that we needed the following:
• Regular transatlantic working Groups, on emerging technologies, and risk assessments on current systems and sharing of best practice.
• Repeated testing of our own systems. Continued assessment of performance and failure.
• The promotion and protection of intellectual property.
• Using the internet and social networks in order to educate and illustrate the risks.
• Consistent dialogue between Governments, business, investors, consumers and the industry.
• Better Early Warning System amongst international partners.
• Increasing and coordinating penalties for those who build, use and sell tools and software designed to carry out cyber attacks.
Our two systems may be different but our aims are the same, to reconcile the protection of our citizens and our territories, whilst preserving control of our personal information and our personal rights. We both have these tools, one may be protected in a constitution, and one may be protected in a charter of Rights, but those rights are there, written and preserved and there to guide us in our work.
