EU: Counter-terror laws can't go too far

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- The European Parliament says the EU Commission and member states have overreached in their reaction to terrorism, endangering citizens' privacy and rights.

In a broad-ranging resolution this week, the Parliament opposed the establishment of a European air passenger personal data system like the one run in America by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The resolution, passed Wednesday 359-293 with 38 abstentions, called any form of profiling or data-mining in EU counter-terrorism measures "unacceptable."

It expressed concern about the growing use of existing EU immigration databases, including one of asylum-seekers, for counter-terrorism purposes; and about the European Commission's proposal to collect Passenger Name Records from the airlines as the United States and Canada currently do.

"Mass collection of personal data and data processing in order to create profiles through data-mining techniques, as envisaged in the recent proposal for a directive on an EU-PNR system, are not allowed at EU level," states the resolution.

It adds that it is "unacceptable to pursue an EU-PNR system without a complete evaluation of the EU-U.S. and EU-Canada PNR agreements, in particular their impact on reducing the threat and increasing security as well as their impact on privacy and civil liberties."

The resolution says the EU should "support actions at EU, national and local level aimed at preventing violent radicalization, by fostering the integration of people through inter-cultural dialogue and the promotion of democracy and human rights as the universal values underpinning our society, (and) avoiding social exclusion."