Who is sharing our data? — What the European Union is not doing to Enhance Its Response to Counterterrorism.
According to the European Parliament’s “Understanding EU Counter-Terrorism Policy,” 77% of European Union (EU) citizens as of 2018 would like to see stronger counterterrorism policy, and the EU is attempting to fulfill this desire. The European Parliament (EP) has highlighted the European Union’s new advancements and improvements in counter-terrorism, including focus areas on victims of terrorism, border security, terrorism financing, weapon regulation, and cybersecurity. Arguably, the most important proposed change would be the push for information sharing across EU borders. Counterterrorism is a main way that member states within the EU can benefit one another and create unified protection.
In the EP’s exact words, their goal is, “Modernizing info sharing tools between EU law enforcement agencies.” But what exactly does this entail? The European Union currently has a combined Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU.net), that is focused on sharing information regarding terrorism financing between member state’s Financial Intelligence Units. The FIU.net combines agencies formed at the national level to have access to each other’s data on suspicious financing. Along with deciding what data to share, these national agencies are responsible for protecting this data and requesting the ability to share with other sources.
Future data transfer policies should ensure that there is a focus on safeguarding data, abide by different country’s privacy laws, and gauge what data is applicable to share. These “authorities,” that the European Parliament mention in their briefing, would also monitor the dark web and share information between countries that have a higher risk of terrorist attacks. Europol needs to clarify who would be responsible for the extracting and sharing of data. This is especially important since their responsibilities would include the ability to effectively share information whilst abiding by privacy laws.
The European Union’s new counterterrorism goal is to monitor and protect their citizens’ via online data. But what about the member states’ differing privacy laws? A main issue within the European Union, whether this is internal or external security, is the differing laws and wants within member countries. Europol would be tasked with knowing what data is accessible and be conscious to follow individual member states laws while also acting quickly to share critical information. The European Union would need to create clear guidelines of what they are allowed to access, what they can share, and who they can share it with. The European Union specifically has to abide by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which explains their protection laws in Title 2 Article 8. One reference of this states, “Such data must be processed fairly for specified purposes and on the basis of the consent of the person concerned or some other legitimate basis laid down by law. Everyone has the right of access to data which has been collected concerning him or her, and the right to have it rectified.”
Another measure to keep in mind is, how will the public react? According to the previously mentioned article (European Parliament’s “Understanding EU Counter-Terrorism Policy,”) public opinion within Europe is majorly concerned with terrorism and sees it as a persistent threat. Terrorism is at the top of the EU’s agenda according to the previously mentioned EP briefing, and there has been a huge push for counterterrorism due to the series of Europe-targeted terrorist attacks in recent years. The public sees terrorism as encroaching closer to them due to these frequent and geographically close attacks. Will they be willing to give up rights to privacy in order to ensure protection? This is a possibility, but first the European Union needs a clear answer to solve this issue.
The European Union has access to agencies such as the Schengen Information System, (which the European Parliament strengthened use of in 2018). According to the European Commission, 22 countries within the European Union are currently using the Schengen Information System (SIS). One of the pillars of SIS is counter-terrorism, this entails a database of those involved in terrorist activities that is shared with law enforcement agencies of the involved states. In addition to this, the other modes of information protection are focused on sharing information through alerts, collecting biometric information, and irregular migration efforts. In 2018, the SIS stated they would be directly working with Europol and The European Border and Coastguard Agency, despite having little motivation to do so.
The European Union, specifically Europol, has access to multiple agencies that can specialize in data sharing and protection. As stated in the EP’s briefing, the EU does intend on strengthening their forces and should state what agencies they will utilize to do so. A main issue is what agencies have the ability to become international and utilize multiple law enforcement agencies to do so and how Europol is going to execute their data-sharing initiative.
