DATA PROTECTION/INTERNET : PRISM: WASHINGTON PARTIALLY REASSURES COMMISSON.

A few answers and more meetings of transatlantic experts was all that two Commissioners, Viviane Reding (justice) and Cecilia Malmstrom (home affairs), obtained from US Attorney-General Eric Holder at a crisis meeting on the scandal provoked by the revelation of the American cyber spying programme, Prism. Brought together in Dublin by the Irish EU Presidency, the partners - who are preparing to negotiate a far-reaching free trade agreement supposedly based on confidence - tried to address European concerns about the existence of an American "Big Brother".

According to Commissioner Reding, Holder answered some of her questions raised earlier in the week. Prism, meant to tackle the international terrorist threat, allegedly does not involve bulk data collection from the nine internet giants...