The highest court in Europe ruled against Safe Harbor on Tuesday. This international agreement allows companies to move information on the Internet from the U.S. to the EU, and vice versa. This data includes information such as your search history and social media posts, according to The New York Times.
Safe Harbor has been in effect since 2000. The international data-sharing agreement has given more than 4,000 companies the ability to transmit your user data across the ocean, according to The Washington Times. The court says that this agreement hasn't protected privacy rights of residents living in the European Union.
The ruling was sparked by a lawsuit filed by law student Max Schrems. His case claimed that the U.S. government invaded his privacy by sending his data to American websites, like Facebook. The case went to the high court in Ireland before making its way to the top justices in the CJEU, the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Their ruling? "Legislation permitting the public authorities to have access on a generalized basis to the content of electronic communications must be regarded as compromising the essence of the fundamental right to respect for private life," the court said, The Washington Times reported.
This court ruling won't change the way data is transmitted immediately, according to The Wall Street Journal. However, it will give regulators and governments the power to suspend data-sharing rights of American companies if they think privacy violations are at work.
