Data trust hurt by US surveillance scandal

Data has become the new currency whose value will triple to €1tn a year in the EU by 2020, but the US surveillance scandal has damaged trust and will cost the US cloud industry up to €24bn over the next three years.

Trust needs to be restored and growth boosted, according to European justice commissioner Viviane Reding, who is pushing for agreement on the EU’s data protection regulation which has been on the table for the past two years.

Data protection and compliance is good for business, she said. The hacker attack on Sony that compromised the data of 77m people cost the company up to $2bn (€1.5bn) and damaged its reputation. She compared this with Hamburg that has a thriving data-sensitive gaming industry, and some of the highest standards in data protection globally.