EDRi speech to European Commission Data Retention Conference

On 3 December, the European Commission organised a one-day conference on the Data Retention Directive, bringing together police forces, national ministries, data protection authorities and civil society.

European Digital Rights (Axel Arnbak from Dutch member Bits of Freedom) gave one of the speeches which opened the event. The script can be downloaded from: http://www.edri.org/files/Data_Retention_Conference_031210final.pdf

The speech addressed the legal changes and precedents (the Marper case, the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, the oath of the Commissioners to respect the Fundamental Rights Charter, etc) since the adoption of the Directive, examples of the harm caused by the Directive.

It concluded by expressing the hope that the overwhelming evidence that the Directive is a fruitless, failed and flawed legal instrument would give the European Commission the moral courage it needs to repeal the legislation.

Commissioner Malmström, a long-term critic of the Directive, gave one of the speeches that closed the conference. The text of her speech is available at http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/10/723.