Brussels to sign away your private details to US

David Leppard

American authorities will be able to obtain greater access to private information such as credit card transactions, internet browsing habits and travel histories of people in Britain under a deal being finalised by European Union officials.

An internal report leaked to The New York Times yesterday said the EU was on the verge of agreeing to give US law enforcement and security agencies information about all EU citizens.

Talks on the new data-sharing deal have been going on since last year. Negotiators are trying to agree on minimum standards to protect privacy rights. This would include limiting access to information to “authorised individuals with an identified purpose” for their search. The Americans want to secure final agreement before President Bush leaves office in January.

This weekend, privacy campaigners said the move would allow the Americans to carry out “fishing” expeditions against anyone they deemed to be of interest and would further undermine individual privacy.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: “We can barely trust our own authorities with sensitive personal information. What redress will we have on the other side of the Atlantic if our details are lost or abused?”

The Foreign Office would make no comment yesterday and an EU spokesman declined to discuss the matter. Stewart Baker, assistant secretary for policy at the US department of homeland security, said that the deal would make it easier for the US to obtain private information on individuals from banks, credit card firms and other companies in Britain and the EU.

He said many firms faced sanctions from the EU if they were deemed to have passed information to the US in breach of data protection laws. The deal would in effect give them greater protection from punishment in the future. It would apply to airline passengers and anyone whom the US government had legitimate authority to obtain information about, he added.

The internal report said negotiators had largely agreed on an “international binding agreement”. The pact would make it clear that it was lawful for European governments and companies such as internet and credit card firms to transfer private information to the United States and vice versa.

Officials have still to resolve whether European citizens should be able to sue the US government over its handling of personal data. The deal is designed to resolve conflicts over information-sharing between the EU and the US that followed the 9/11 attacks in America.

The US government demanded access to customer data held by airlines flying out of Europe and by a consortium, known as Swift, that monitors global banking transfers. American officials wanted the data so that they could search for suspicious activity.

Barry Steinhardt, a lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union, said: “Clearly it’s a broad exchange of data. It’s another example of the US drawing in the rest of the world to sacrifice its principles.

“The US is essentially asking the rest of the world to conform to our very limited notion of what’s private.

“It’s not a full-scale transfer of data between Europe and the United States. But it provides for wide access to data which are supposed to be protected under EU law.”

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Canadians share Americans' anxiety

Economic slowdown shaping attitudes as unemployment, higher energy costs hit entire continent

GLORIA GALLOWAY

OTTAWA -- Canadians are apprehensive as they watch the economic wheels begin to slow but Americans express even more fear about the double threat of job losses and high gas prices.

A sweeping poll conducted over the second two weeks of this month by the Strategic Counsel for The Globe and Mail and CTV compared the attitudes of Canadians and Americans on a wide range of issues, including the economy.

What the researchers found was an anxiety about unemployment and energy costs that is affecting an entire continent.

Those matters were the No. 1 issue for 18 per cent of Canadians surveyed. And, in the United States, where the percentage of people looking for work is exceeding the Canadian rate for the first time in 26 years, a full 33 per cent said the economy topped the list.

"In the U.S. there is a huge regional impact unemployment-wise," said Peter Donolo, a Strategic Counsel partner. "There is that whole swath of middle America and the Midwest that has just been devastated. And they've also had a tremendous housing crash that we haven't had in Canada."

The No. 3 issue in the United States was foreign policy, primarily the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as terrorism in general. Canadians placed those matters sixth - behind the environment, health care and social issues.

It's perhaps not surprising then that 71 per cent of Americans said they believe their country is on the wrong track.

In Canada, by comparison, just 40 per cent of those surveyed said the country is on the wrong track, while 49 per cent said it is headed in a good direction.

But Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government should not necessarily take comfort in those numbers, Mr. Donolo said.

In Canada, "the 'right track' level is significantly down from what it had been over a number of years," he said, adding that the last time it was around this level was just before the previous Liberal government was defeated.

The poll, which surveyed 1,000 Canadians and 1,000 Americans between June 12 and June 22, is expected to accurately reflect the broad opinions in the two countries within a range of 3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

It was conducted at a time when the North American free-trade agreement was making the news - and as Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, was saying he would renegotiate the deal to toughen environmental and labour standards.

But the Strategic Counsel survey suggests a large number of Canadians think less highly of NAFTA than do their southern neighbours.

While 36 per cent of Americans said the agreement has been bad for their country, 44 per cent of Canadians said the same thing.

Political leaders in all of the federal parties have reached a consensus that free trade has been good for Canada, Mr. Donolo said. And empirical data support that view.

But Canadians don't necessarily agree. Sixty per cent said the United States has benefited more from the deal than has Canada. Just 23 per cent of Americans, on the other hand, said Canada had benefited more than the United States.

"This clearly tags free trade as a sleeper political issue in Canada and what's interesting is there is not a single political party that's opposed to it," Mr. Donolo said.

The poll also looked at the way the two nations view each other.

Half of the respondents in this country said Canadians are mainly or essentially different from Americans. That compares with the United States where just 21 per cent of Americans said they were different from Canadians.

"Part of the act of being a Canadian is not being an American. There is a greater consciousness of it," Mr. Donolo said.

Meanwhile, half of those surveyed in both countries said Canadians and Americans are friendly but not close, while about a quarter of the respondents on both sides of the border described the relationship as cordial but distant.

And 47 per cent of Canadians said their perceptions of Americans have become more negative in recent years.

"There is a sense among a significant number of Canadians," Mr. Donolo said, "that there has been a fundamental divergence between our government and our political cultures in the last few years."

Thoughts of Canadians and Americans compared

Gas prices are now beating out the environment and other hot-button issues on both sides of the Canadian-American border.

In your opinion, what is the most important issue facing Canada/U.S. today, that is, the one that you are most concerned about?

Issue	Canadians	Americans
Economic/unemployment	18%	33%
Gas prices	18	19
Environmental	16	1
Health care	11	6
Social/moral	9	6
Iraq/Afghanistan/terrorism/foreign policy	6	14
Crime/violence	3	<1
Energy/oil	2	4
Politics	2	6
Canada-U.S. relations	1	<1
Education	1	1
Government spending/deficit	1	<1
Taxes	1	1
Other	5	5
None/don't know	8	3

Do you feel that Canada has benefited more than the United States from the free-trade agreement, that it has had the same effect on both sides of the border. Or that the United States has benefited more than Canada?

	CANADA	UNITED STATES
Canada has benefited more	9%	23%
Same effect on both sides	22%	38%
U.S. has benefited more	60%	12%
Don't know	10%	27%

Would you describe Canadians and Americans as essentially different, mainly different but with some similarities, mainly the same but with some small differences, or essentially the same?

	CANADA	UNITED STATES
Essentially the same	13%	24%
Mainly the same	37%	46%
Mainly different	30%	15%
Essentially different	19%	6%
Don't know	1%	9%

In the past few years, would you say your attitudes toward the U.S./Canada have become more positive, remained unchanged, or become more negative?

	CANADA	UNITED STATES
Remained the same	44%	75%
More negative	47%	5%
More positive	9%	17%
Don't know	1%	3%

Note: Figures may not add to 100 due to rounding

SOURCE: THE STRATEGIC COUNSEL

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Teen decapitated at Six Flags over Georgia

The Batman roller coaster at Six Flags over Georgia, shown in a 1997 photo, was going full speed when it hit and killed a teenager on Saturday.

AUSTELL, Ga. - A teenager was decapitated by a roller coaster after he hopped a pair of fences and entered a restricted area Saturday at Six Flags Over Georgia, authorities said.

Six Flags officials are uncertain why the unidentified 17-year-old from Columbia, S.C. scaled two six-foot fences and passed signs that said the restricted area was off-limits and dangerous to visitors, spokeswoman Hela Sheth said in a news release.

Authorities were investigating reports from witnesses who said the teenager jumped the fences to retrieve a hat he lost while riding the Batman roller coaster, said Cobb County police Sgt. Dana Pierce. Police have declined to release the teenager's name until an autopsy is completed.

Six Flags said it closed the roller coaster after the Saturday afternoon accident out of respect for the teen's family. The ride was expected to reopen on Sunday, according to a Six Flags news release.

No riders injured
Police said the ride was going full speed when the teen was struck. The ride's top speed is 50 mph, according to the park's Web site.

No one riding on the roller coaster was injured, Sheth said. The teen was with another boy who also entered the restricted area but was not injured, Pierce said.

The teen and his parents were at the park with a group from the Oakey Spring Baptist Church near Springfield, S.C., police said.

In May 2002, 58-year-old groundskeeper Samuel Milton Guyton of Atlanta was killed after he wandered in a restricted area under the Batman roller coaster's path and was struck in the head by the dangling leg of one of the ride's passengers. The ride was closed for a day to allow the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration to inspect the ride. It was deemed safe for passengers.

In June 2007, a teenager's legs were severed when cables snapped on the Superman Tower of Power ride at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville, Ky. Doctors were able to reattach Kaitlyn Lasitter's right foot, but she had to have some of her left leg amputated and subsequent surgeries.

State officials blame a faulty cable and slow response by an amusement park ride operator in the accident. Her family is suing Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, claiming the park failed to maintain the ride and equipment and ensure riders' safety. The amusement park has denied liability in court filings.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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