The New York Transatlantic

Why the European Court of Justice killed safe harbor

Why the European Court of Justice killed safe harbor

By Kyle Walker on February 22, 2016

Max Schrems, the 20-something law student whose lawsuit triggered the end of the “safe harbor” data transfer agreement between the European Union and the United States, is scheduled to speak tomorrow at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. Yesterday I scanned the opinion of the European Court of Justice in Maximilian Schrems v. Data Protection Commissioner in an effort to prepare myself for his talk. This was a labor for which I was not fully prepared. Nevertheless, here’s some detail on the decision that you won’t get in the news coverage—understandably because its complicated. Take a deep breath.

Schrems brought his lawsuit against the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, a national regulatory body that had been charged with overseeing the handling of personal data by companies based in Ireland. The EU member states were all obliged to create national bodies like the Data Protection Commissioner by a 1995 European Council directive (the so-called Data Protection Directive). These data oversight bodies are meant to protect EU citizen’s privacy and data rights. Unlike in the US, EU law grants basic rights of personal data protection under the European Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Europa in Review

Europa in Review

By Kyle Walker on February 21, 2016

Here’s Kyle’s weekly roundup of news and readings from around Europe. This week:

Political typography, or “Brexit and boldface”;
One reason that Bosnia will have a hard time getting into the EU; and
The past catches up with you (again).
Also penguins.

A cinematic introduction to Sápmi

A cinematic introduction to Sápmi

By Kyle Walker on February 20, 2016

The arctic landscapes of Sápmi bear a surprising resemblance to my native New Mexico. The sky opens up; the vegetation retreats, as though satisfied to play a supporting role in the visual drama; in both places, the uninterrupted vista is the star. But here, I think, the similarities probably end. Sápmi is a land of fjords, lakes, rivers and marshes. New Mexico is a desert with but one big(ish) river and a small ensemble of other streamlets.

Now—I have never been to Sápmi, the Sámi homeland that stretches through the northern reaches of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia’s Kola peninsula. I made my strange comparison through the magical (and distorting) lens of cinema. Scandinavia House, the New York home of the American-Scandinavian Foundation, is screening new films from Scandinavia all spring, and Friday’s selection was 7 Sámi Stories, a project of the International Sámi Film Institute.

Blogspotting: Tour the ‘deteriorating Russian zeitgeist,’ resist the pollocracy

Blogspotting: Tour the ‘deteriorating Russian zeitgeist,’ resist the pollocracy

By Anna Bokun on February 18, 2016

Shortly before Russia’s 2011–2012 “Snow Revolution,” in which journalists and dissidents rallied against a flawed election process (“flawed” sounds like an understatement to be honest), Thomas Campbell began to follow the rise of a vigorous social movement germinating in Russia’s blogosphere. By translating activists’ work from Russian to English, Campbell hopes to lift the curtain on Putin’s Russia and expose the perennial nomenklatura. I learned about Campbell’s blog at a talk he gave last week at NYU’s Jordan Center.

“What have I learned from 8 years of blogging in St. Petersburg?” Campbell asked. “Most of my pieces fall under the purview of the Russian ‘history wars’ of the last decade. When I first started, there was a greater degree of freedom for activists and journalists. Now, voices are being suppressed in favor of an official, state narrative flowing from the pens and keyboards of the Kremlin spin doctors and other ‘authority figures.’”