European data theft difficult, but growing

BERLIN, April 7 (UPI) -- Electronic data theft is more difficult in Europe than the United States because of privacy laws, but the problem is growing.

While Europe has so far been spared large-scale data thefts, recent incidents point to chinks in privacy laws that prohibit the commercial sale of personal data and limit the necessity for for-profit databases targeted by hackers, the International Herald Tribune reported Thursday.

Last month in Potsdam, Germany, a university student purchased a used computer disk drive for $26 on the eBay auction site. It contained confidential data from the local police, including procedures for hostage-takings, SWAT-team staffing and an analysis of current threats.

Also last month, hackers broke into LexisNexis, the largest news and business online database in the United States, owned by the British-Dutch group Reed Elsevier.

"In Europe, data is owned by the person to whom it relates. In the United States, data becomes the property of the company which collects it," said Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, a London-based lobbying group.