The idea of obliging railway and ferry companies to transfer passengers’ personal data to national authorities in the EU, as reported this week by EUobserver, shows that Europe is “trying to outdo” former US president George W. Bush, a privacy watchdog has warned.
Documents revealed that a majority of EU member states are open to the idea of expanding the scope of the 2016 passenger name record (PNR) directive, which requires air carriers to provide authorities with passenger data, such as name, address, date of travel, seat number, and baggage information.
Bush, president from 2001 to 2009, introduced far-reaching surveillance measures in the US in response to the 11 September terrorist attack on the US in 2001.
“The Bush Administration used the 9/11 attacks to push PNR on a reluctant Europe,” Gus Hosein, executive director of Privacy International told EUobserver by email, after this website’s report on the plans on Tuesday (6 August).
“Are we surprised that with its current politics, Europe is now trying to outdo the Bush Administration. Is there anything more 2019 than using migration as the crisis now,” he said.
The anti-terrorism bill PNR only applies to flights, but EU member states are having discussions about including other modes of transport as well.
The reasons given in documents summarising the debates, were not only terrorism, but also migrant smuggling, drugs smuggling, and other crime.
