Internet freedom of speech stung by recent European Union court decision

When Austrian Max Schrens prevailed in a privacy case in the European Court of Justice, U.S. Internet companies saw the end to a safe harbor agreement used to handle personal data of Europeans. The decision could open the door to an avalanche  of challenges from Europeans over the handling of their data. (The New York Times, October 9, 2015, by Robert Levine)

Mike Masnick of TechDirt, October 6, 2015, writes that the decision will cause a lot of havoc for U.S. Internet interests, particularly damaging to small companies. Masnick blames the fiasco on the National Security Agency and their mass surveillance that meant that Internet companies could not protect personal information.

Masnick, TechDirt, October 8, 2015, says the recent decision portends a collision between the Europeans who value privacy above all and the Americans who generally favor free speech over privacy. It is essential he notes that the Europeans stop chipping away at Internet freedoms and negotiate ways to maintain privacy and a free Internet.