German Privacy Watchdog Orders Banks to Stop Sharing Information with U.S.

On August 24, 2006, a Germany privacy watchdog told Germany banks to ensure that confidential data was not unnecessarily transmitted to U.S. authorities. The Schleswig-Holstein independent data protection center (IDPC), an official German agency for the Schleswig-Holstein region, made the announcement following international investigations into U.S. surveillance of the Belgium-based SWIFT cooperative.