EU Votes against datamining from US - EU Data protection package

On Monday the 21st of October The Civil Committee of Liberties, an organization established by the European Parliament, will vote on a new law that would ban the transfer of data from the EU to other countries unless they gain permission to do so under EU law.

If passed, it will enable Europe to fine American companies that violate EU law.
This seems to be the first concrete action the EU has taken after whistle-blowers like Edward Snowden revealed that American based companies like Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Microsoft and many others were supplying personal data of EU citizens to the NSA.


The European Digital Rights advocacy group, which unites 35 privacy and civil rights organizations, has urged Members of European Parliament to "vote for strong data protection rules," stating that a lack of strict measures "will undermine the rights and freedoms of European citizens."

This all sounds very nice but will this new law have any effect on the real world? We already know that if this law comes to pass it will not have any effect on the actions of European intelligence services and we know from the past, when American companies are faced with international law, they will choose the law that best suits their purposes.

Senior officials in Brussels told the Guardian that the proposed fines are "a joke," and aren't significant enough to make the American tech giants comply with European rules.
US-based companies also argue that they are not required to abide by European legislation. Instead, they maintain that they are only subject to secret court orders of the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
So... how do YOU feel about this? Does one country's spying program justify the elimination of privacy rights of citizens of another country? How would the US react if it was subjected to a European spying program?

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