Privacy International Challenges Swift Data Transfers

Privacy International has announced that it has filedl complaints in 32 countries against Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (Swift), claming the that it when it shared financial information with the United States it violated European and Asian data protection laws.

Complaints were also filed in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Switzerland, and Hong Kong.

"Swift appears to have violated data protection rules in Europe by making
these transfers without the consent of the individuals involved, and without
the approval of European judicial or administrative authorities. The scale of the operation, involving millions of records, places this disclosure in the realm of a fishing exercise rather than a legally authorized investigation," said Simon Davies.
the largest and most influential bloc in the European Parliament,

A transfer of personal information from Europe to the U.S., which does not have a comprehensive data protection law, generally requires consent.