The EU's top court yesterday put limits on how European spy and security agencies could harvest troves of personal data, but said this could be done under a serious threat to national security. Data privacy is a highly sensitive issue in Europe, where activists have put the legality of Facebook and other big tech operations into jeopardy over similar concerns. The legal onslaught began after revelations by Edward Snowden of mass digital spying by US agencies that also revealed cooperation with Washington by the UK's spy agencies. The mass harvesting of data is a central part of anti-terror laws passed in several Western countries in the wake of September 11 and other attacks.

Source: AFP