On September 23th, one of the most eagerly awaited ECJ Advocate General’s legal opinion, has finally been pronounced and it has been warmly welcomed by the whole community of data protection and privacy supporters and activists. “After fifteen years of criticism from academics, from privacy advocates and from independent studies, the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice has confirmed what we already knew”, Heini Järvinen stated on European Digital Rights.

The opinion concerns the controversy among Europe and Facebook, embodied in Max Schrems’ case. Not an ordinary court case, but to a great extent a political one, definitely triggering reactions not only by the parties directly involved, but also by the digital community and the European institutions. A case that will certainly have an impact on the trialogue phase of the Data Protection Reform that is currently going on in the EU and that will have far reaching consequences on EU-US relations. The two partners already undertook negotiations in order to review and and update the “invalid” system. A system that was already claimed by the Parliament to be suspended one year and a half ago. (suite…)