On June 13, 2016, Schrem’s website “Europe v Facebook”(website collecting information regarding class actions against Facebook) released a press update according to which the United States government asked the Irish High Court to join as amicus curiae in the case between Max Schrems and Facebook. “The US government likely wants to defend its surveillance laws before the European Courts and highlighted the significance of the case for the United States before the High Court.”
According to Schrems, this might be a good development: as amicus curiae, the U.S. “will not be protected by US laws on confidentiality and be placed under oath”.
More information on the proceeding before the Irish Data Protection Commission is available here and here.
Originally published on Technethics on August 2016