EU and US Clinch Data-Transfer Deal to Replace Safe Harbour

'Safe Harbour' was the system used by companies like Google and Amazon that governs data transfers between Britain and Europe. Last year an Austrian law student called Max Schrems took Facebook to court in Ireland to challenge Safe Harbour's safeguards against US security agencies. Safe Harbour was ruled illegal and the companies had to find a legal system to replace it. Now, it seems they have one: Privacy Shield. While Schrems tells us he is still not impressed, Peter Swire, law professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology says things are moving in the right direction.

The British Prime Minister David Cameron now has the outline of the deal he is going to put to the British people in a referendum which will decide whether or not the UK leaves the European Union. It is a crucial moment - if EU wide agreement to the proposals is secured, a British referendum on EU membership is expected towards the end of June. And, Britons face a profound choice. The BBC's Mike Johnson discussed it with Terry Scouler, head of the Engineering Employers Federation here in Britain, and British economist Roger Bootle.

Our two guests on opposite sides of the Pacific are David Moser, academic director at CET Chinese Studies at Beijing Capital Normal University and Deidre Depke, New York bureau chief for Marketplace.

(Photo: Computer severs. Credit: Thinkstock)