Some American data mining robots my have to be put in the storage shed for a little while. "The European Court of Justice has blocked an EU-US agreement that requires airlines to transfer passenger data to the US authorities".

Since 2004 European airlines have routinely handed over 34 bits of information on every passenger they fly to the States, including names, addresses, telephone numbers, and credit card information. American authorities believe that knowing exactly when Mrs Ingaborg Åkesson of Gävle, Sweden's Mastercard expires will aid immensely in the twin fights against terrorism and unwise spontaneous Ikea purchases.

The EU courts disagree (damn French!), claiming that there is "no appropriate legal basis" for the transfer and that there was a risk the data could be misused. This is, of course, silly, cowardly, surrender monkey protectionist talk. It is inconceivable that American authorities, who routinely never ever overstep their jurisdiction and run a wholly and completelyn legal war in Iraq and totally legitimate surveillance of every single phone call Americans have ever made, would ever misuse data on EU citizens, whom they cherish and respect as they do Canadians.

Why doesn't the US just require visas of everyone who visits? Are they afraid it would make them look bad in the eyes of the world?