[filiphorvat]

>We have had the Five Eyes and ECHELON for decades. Since before the Snowden revelations. How is this different?

Because the EU is not part of either?

[filoleg]

Well one of the countries in the Five Eyes (UK) used to be a part of the EU, until fairly recently.

Note for those in the thread who haven't heard of ECHELON until now (just like me) - it is the exact same list of countries as for the Five Eyes.

> [...] Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, also known as the Five Eyes. [0]

0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON

[Gasp0de]

Maybe this is the reason they started demanding this now, that before they could just ask Britain but because of Brexit, Britain has lost access to European biometric data?