The European Union’s top court has invalidated a key data-sharing protocol that allows American companies to transfer personal information about EU citizens to the US. The court says the regulation, known as privacy shield, is invalid as it does not protect EU citizens from mass surveillance programs operated by American intelligence agencies like the NSA.

The ruling will have a profound effect on a range of us businesses. It will be of particular concern to large tech companies like Facebook that handle large amounts of personal data.

Today’s ruling applies only to certain types of personal data. It has no affect on what the EU calls’necessary’.

The EU judges said that the current arrangement of data transfers clash with the EU’s charter of fundamental rights, which ensures individuals’ right to privacy.

Us law is designed to facilitate mass surveillance while EU law enshrines individual privacy. Eu law is enshrined individual privacy.

Schrems said it showed that the only way forward for American companies was widespread’surveillance reform’. Schrems said the ruling showed the only reason for American firms was widespread”surveillance reform”.

The EU will not change its fundamental rights to please the NSA, says Schrems.’the only way to overcome this clash is for the US to introduce solid privacy rights for all people – including foreigners’.

The US will have to engage in serious surveillance reform to get back to a’privileged’ status for our privacy. After a first read of the judgement on # PrivacyShield it seems we scored a 100 % win.

The ruling invalidates the privacy shield, which is used by thousands of us firms to transfer data across the Atlantic. It also upholds a more recent and more wide-ranging form of data transfer known as standards contractual clauses or sccs.