Protests against data retention in Bulgaria

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

After the decision at the end of last year when the Bulgarian Supreme
Administrative Court (SAC) annulled article 5 of the national legislation
that implements the Data retention Directive, new initiatives by the
Bulgarian authorities raise concerns in relation with data retention.

Thus, in 2009, only a few days before the Parliamentary Transport and
Communications Commission meeting, a proposal for changes in the Digital
Messages Act was submitted by the Interior Ministry, copying the Data
Retention Regulation, including the articles abolished by the SAC.

Several civil society NGOs, including Electronic Frontier Bulgaria and the
Association for Electronic Communications, alarmed the media and met Members
of the Parliament just to explain what the situation was.

At the meeting of the Commission it became clear that the Interior Ministry
has submitted a new proposal with many other dangerous issues:
– It is not clear if the information can be used and processed only in
case of severe crimes;
– Data from communications should be kept for 2 years;
– There are no guarantees for the deletion of the data;
– It is not possible for the citizens to see what kinds of data are being
kept and who and for what purpose is using them;
– There is no punishment whatsoever for misuse of these data.

The text was approved by the Commission after an hour of senseless
discussions with most of the “against” arguments disapproved. Now, the final
decision remains will be taken by a plenary meeting of the Bulgarian
Parliament.

Electronic Frontier Bulgaria started a campaign against the new provisions,
joining the protests in Sofia and Varna and participated in all media
coverage for discusssions on the hot data retention topic and its problems.

Fight for Rights and Differences – What is Going on with the Internet
Bugging (3.02.2009)
http://www.bogomil.info/int/fight-for-rights-and-differences-%E2%80%93-what-is-going-on-with-the-internet-bugging

Digital rights facts from Bulgaria 2008 (23.01.2009)
http://bogomil.blogactiv.eu/2009/01/23/digital-rights-facts-from-bulgaria-2008/

Bogomil Shopov: Fighting for digital rights in Bulgaria and beyond
(27.01.2009)
http://www.internetsansfrontieres.com/2009/01/bogomil-shopov-fighting-for-digital-rights-in-bulgaria-and-beyond-2/

EDRi-gram: Bulgarian Court annuls a vague article of the data retention law
(17.12.2008)
http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number6.24/bulgarian-administrative-case-data-retention

(thanks to Bogomil Shopov – Electronic Frontier Bulgaria)