Peter Swire on the USA Freedom Act and European Concerns about NSA Surveillance

Network member Alasdair Young (Georgia Tech) has alerted us to the publication of the first Working Paper from Georgia Tech's Jean Monnet Center, entitled "The USA Freedom Act: A Partial Response to European Concerns about NSA Surveillance," and authored by privacy expert Peter Swire (Georgia Tech).  Alasdair's announcement is below; the full text is available here.

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Georgia Tech’s Jean Monnet Center of Excellence is proud to announce the publication of its first working paper, written by Center member and Huang Professor of Law and Ethics at the Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business and Senior Counsel at Alston & Bird LLP Peter Swire.  Swire, who served on President Obama’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technology and who, under President Clinton, helped to negotiate the U.S.-E.U. Safe Harbor agreement for trans-border data flows, reflects on how recent changes in U.S. surveillance policy, including the 2015 USA Freedom Act.  He contends that the Act, to a significant extent, reflects recommendations suggested by the Review Group. It also follows on from a series of pro-privacy reforms adopted by the Administration.  Collectively, Swire argues, these reforms go a considerable way towards addressing European concerns about U.S. surveillance practices, although there is still a considerable way to go.  The USA Freedom Act, although focused on domestic surveillance, provides encouragement that U.S. surveillance policy will continue to be reformed in a pro-privacy direction. The working paper is available at: http://inta.gatech.edu/jmce/working-papers.