US demands cause EU flights talks to collapse

fantomas writes: The BBC is reporting that the current EU-US talks over data collected from people flying into the USA collapsed last night. The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are insisting on access to the airlines records and 34 pieces of data to be collected from each passenger. According to the undertakings on data protection provided by the US, this includes "personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, and data concerning the health or sex life of the individual". This has been gathered since 2004, but only as a temporary agreement and now renewal is due, national data protection laws in the EU doesn't allow the deal to continue. Chaos may ensue. Airlines who receive to hand over information to US authorities may be fined up to $6000 per passenger, and the passengers themselves held in immigration for hours. Good for the EU on protecting the privacy of their citizens? or are they hindering the War on Terror?