The new revelations from Snowden show that NSA seems to spy on everybody, allies or enemies alike, collecting data form everywhere and everyone, in order to get a “diplomatic advantage” over allies such as France and Germany or an “economic advantage” over countries such as Japan or Brazil. Or even more?

NY Times explains that not only NSA is demanding the data it gathers, but also other agency’s “customers” are asking for different data from NSA.

The recent EU Council allegedly decided to slow down the speed of the reform of data protection arguing that it was moving too fast. Germany, for example, was reportedly worried about "not moving too quickly". By a strange coincidence, this is exactly the same argument used by the main lobbying groups.

Skype, owned now by Microsoft, has entered the attention of Gerard Lommel, Luxembourg’s Data Protection Commissioner, as a result of the documents revealed by Edward Snowden in the PRISM affair.

Gerard Lommel has put Skype under investigation over its possible secret collaboration with NSA, within PRISM spy programme, and the company could face criminal and administrative sanctions, including a ban on passing users' communications to the US intelligence agency.

If the investigation proves Skype has secretly shared personal data with the NSA, it could also be fined for being in violation of the country's data-protection laws, as the company has its headquarters in the European country.

The European Court of Justice ruled on 17 October 2013 that the inclusion of the fingerprints in the EU electronic passports is lawful.

While the Court acknowledged that taking and storing of fingerprints in passports constitutes an infringement of the rights to respect for private life and the protection of personal data, it ruled that security is more important than privacy and such measures are justified for the purpose of preventing any fraudulent use of passports.

The ruling also claims that the measure of taking fingerprints is not that sensitive, because it "involves no more than the taking of prints of two fingers, which can, moreover, generally be seen by others, so that this is not an operation of an intimate nature."

The decision admits that the electronic pass

On 21 October 2013, the French government summoned Charles Rivkin, the US ambassador in France, demanding urgent explanation regarding the revelations by Le Monde that, according to the documents released by Edward Snowden, NSA has intercepted French citizens’ phone and internet communications, at a massive scale.

Le Monde revealed on that day that, during a 30-day period in December 2012 and January 2013, more than 70 million French phone calls were intercepted and text messages were also swept based on keywords.

On Monday, 21 October 2013 the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee of the European Parliament adopted reports on the General Data Protection Regulation and the Directive for the police and justice sector.

In the past months, the Directive covering personal data processed to prevent, investigate or prosecute criminal offences or enforce criminal penalties has not attracted as much attention as the Regulation, but is in fact part of the data protection package.

The European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee held a crucial vote on Monday evening, 21 October 2013, on the future of privacy and data protection in Europe.

We applaud Parliamentarians for supporting – and even improving - several important and valuable elements of the original Commission proposal.

The European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee held a crucial vote this evening on the future of privacy and data protection in Europe.

We applaud Parliamentarians for supporting – and even improving - several important and valuable elements of the original Commission proposal.