BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union and the United States have launched talks to establish common guidelines over data privacy rules, EU and US officials said on Tuesday.

A committee of EU national data privacy supervisors is due to rule on Wednesday over the access to private transactions which the international banking network SWIFT gave the United States.

And,

Frattini said he proposed to the United States to create a permanent working group to bring data protection rules closer.

"We need to exchange data with the US because if that helps to stop a terrorist attack, we're all happy. But we also need to protect innocent people data," he said.

EU lawmakers called on the EU and the United States last month to negotiate a wide-ranging agreement on security and data privacy.

SWIFT has been at the centre of controversy since US media revealed it had allowed the Treasury Department to tap into its records to search for evidence of terrorism-related activities without informing European authorities.

A spokeswoman for SWIFT welcomed the announcement of the EU-US talks on data privacy, saying it was "the way forward."

A US official repeated on Tuesday the US view that European data protection law is not applicable to cover measures taken by the United States for its national security.

I PRAY that we move towards the EU method of protecting privacy for individuals in this country. We've moved more into a "Soviet Union" method of personal privacy...

I'm personally happy to see the US get their hands slapped and now begin working on the problem.

EU, US in talks over common data privacy rules - Government/Law - www.itnews.com.au