EU Clears SWIFT Data Transfers to United States Treasury Department

The New York Times is reporting on an agreement reached between European ministers and the United States for restored access to information about bank transfers processed by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT). See: EU Clears Bank Data Transfers to United States - NYTimes.com.

There has been some coverage of this already on blogs, particularly the Brussels Blogger (SWIFT - EU to grant USA nearly unlimited access to all EU banking data). Much of the tone has suggested that wholesale transfers of information will take place with massive datamining operations to be set up, but take a look at the actual agreement between the US and Europeans. It's available at wikileaks: EU draft council decision on sharing of banking data with the US and restructuring of SWIFT, 10 Nov 2009 - Wikileaks.

The agreement doesn't contemplate wholesale, massive data downloads of the kind one would expect if the database were in the United States. Instead, targeted requests must be made and these are directed through European authorities rather than to SWIFT directly. There are covenants on the US side that it will not be used for data mining purposes and other privacy-protective promises. And, to top it off, the term of the agreement is one year so that it can be renegotiated if it's not working out.

While all of this needs to be examined with a critical eye and it's not perfect, the cynic in me was pleasantly surprised by the details of the agreement.