Last October 6th, the ECJ finally came to a decisive episode of the Safe Harbor saga, by ruling the invalidity of a system that provides a totally inadequate level of protection of european citizens’ data. Max Schrems warmly welcomed the ECJ ruling and, in his first official response to the judgement, called in to question the precious key role played  by Edward Snowden. The latter, American whistleblower currently living in Russia, let the entire world know about the mass surveillance programs set up by the American NSA, targeting also EU citizens. The other, Austrian citizen, gave to all the European citizens the concrete possibility to have their fundamental rights of privacy and data protection defended, by filing a complaint before the Irish Data Protection Commissioner two years ago. “Congratulations Max Schrems. You’ve changed the world for the better” Edward Snowden wrote in a tweet.

The ECJ ruling of this week, does not conclude the whole judicial procedure, that will pass again before the Irish High Court, but constitues a huge step towards the realization of a really safe harbor for the transatlantic exchange of personal data. “The judgement draws a clear line. It clarifies that mass surveillance violates our fundamental rights”, Schrems affirmed.

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