Fight against terrorism can never justify secret mass surveillance

The fight against terrorism can never justify secret and illegal mass surveillance, the European Parliament has said, demanding that a range of agreements with the US be scrapped or put on hold.

It also gave the go-ahead for reinforced EU data protection laws that insist all companies targeting European users observe the law; include IP addresses as personal data; and allow for collective legal actions if personal data of a group of people is breached, lost or stolen.

The MEPs overwhelmingly supported what is the only international inquiry into mass surveillance, following the Snowden revelations, and hope to produce a data protection bill of rights. However, many of them fear that the nine EU member states that co-operate with the US in mass surveillance (including presidents and prime ministers) may not follow through.