In a highly contested vote, European Union lawmakers agreed to back the passenger name record (PNR) deal with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), The Wall Street Journal reports. The European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee voted 31 to 23 in favor of the deal, which would allow the personal information of Europeans traveling to the U.S. to be shared with the DHS. The PNR agreement is now slated to go before the European Parliament on April 19 for a vote. Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Sophie in 't Veld said, "it is highly regrettable that the fundamental rights of EU citizens have been bargained away under pressure." MEP Axel Voss said, though the agreement didn't "100-percent reflect the EU's position, the U.S. have made major concessions, in particular on the storage period, the method of transferring data, legal protection and the handling of sensitive data." (Registration may be required to access this story.)
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