EU-US Agreement on Data Sharing

Under an interim agreement after the 11th September 2001 attacks in New York and Washington, European airlines have been required to pass on up to 34 items of passenger data (your address, your credit card details, etc) before airlines could land at U.S. airports.

The data was only to be held for 3 1/2 to 11 1/2 years.

Now, after talks between the EU Justice and Security Commissioner, the German Interior Minister, and the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary, the EU has agreed that the US will have access to passenger data from flights into the US for 15 years, but "the number of pieces of information would be reduced."

Whew, that's a relief, only, say, 15 items retained for 15 years if I fly into the US.

Oh, and under a deal backed by EU ambassadors on Wednesday, the US can use SWIFT data for counter-terrorism purposes for 5 years.