Meeting on Danish data retention draft

“This is not something industry wants”, a representative from the Danish
IT-industry Association stated at a meeting on data retention in
Copenhagen on 21 September 2004. The meeting was arranged in response to
the massive criticism raised by the industry, cooperative housing
associations, civil liberty groups and others earlier this year. The
meeting was convened by the Ministry of Justice to discuss next steps for
the draft Administrative Order and code of guidelines.

At the meeting it was decided to establish an expert working group with
industry representatives to assist in the drafting process. It was also
mentioned that the retention order most likely will exempt chatrooms,
which were included in the first draft. However, the concerns raised in
relation to disproportionality, discrimination, financial burdens, and
general frustration towards the role and function providers are asked to
play, were not met. The officials stressed that the drafting group will
keep an eye on the EU framework decision and the possible adoption of
this.

The Danish administrative order is a follow up to the ‘anti-terror
package’ which extended the scope of Section 786 of the Administration of
Justice Act (Act No. 378 of 6. June 2002). The Administrative Order aims
to regulate in detail the obligations of the telecommunication providers,
housing associations etc., specify how they must assist the Danish police
interfering with the secrecy of communication, what data should be
retained, and how it should be done.

When circulated for comments in May 2004, the draft was heavily criticized
for being disproportional and inconsistent, e.g. by letting private
entities store huge amounts of personal information while at the same time
being easy to evade, since e.g. smaller ISPs, libraries and universities
are not included.

Danish Ministry of Justice
http://www.jm.dk/

Digital Rights Denmark
http://www.digitalrights.dk/

Danish Data Protection Agency
http://www.datatilsynet.dk/

(Contribution by Rikke Frank Joergensen, EDRI-member Digital Rights Denmark)