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April 9, 2003 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Privacy and confidentiality

Austria looses court case about surveillance costs

Telecommunication companies in Austria have won an important court case against the federal government. Though in general the wiretapping provisions in the new Telecommunications Law were not deemed unconstitutional, from 2004 onwards, government will have to reimburse providers for the costs of procuring and maintaining surveillance equipment. Full verdict in German (27.02.2003) http://www.vfgh.gv.at/vfgh/presse/G37-16-02.pdf

March 27, 2003 · Blogs

EDRI-gram – Number 5, 27 March 2003

March 27, 2003 · Privacy and data protection | Cross border access to data

No legal basis for transfer of passenger data

The agreement between the European Commission and U.S. authorities on the transmission of passenger name record data (PNR) has encountered fierce opposition during a public hearing at the European parliament. The agreement gives the U.S Customs on-line access to passenger name record data of all EU based airlines for flights that go to, from or […]

March 27, 2003 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Surveillance and data retention

EU building bugged

The telephones lines in the EU Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, home of the Council of Ministers, have been tapped for many years. The bugging devices were discovered in the rooms of the delegations of Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Austria. The devices were placed on lines between the central switchboard and the national […]

March 27, 2003 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Privacy and confidentiality

French Constitutional Council validates computer search without warrant

The French Constitutional Council recently validated the Internal Safety Law (‘Loi sur la sécurité intérieure’), adopted by the Parliament on February 13. This decision has been commented by the Human Rights League – LDH, the French member of the International Human Rights Federation – as a ‘step backwards for the rule of law’. Among the […]

March 27, 2003 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Surveillance and data retention

Polish providers fight email monitoring obligation

According to an item on Warsaw Polish Radio 1 on 19 March 2002, telecommunication providers in Poland have received an order from the Ministry of Infrastructure to install email wiretapping equipment. In the item counsellor Daniel Wieszczycki stated the order is contrary to the Constitutional right of secrecy of correspondence. In pursuance of the order, […]

March 27, 2003 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Data protection standards

Restrictions on cryptography in Spain

A proposal to modify the Spanish telecommunication law threatens the free use of cryptography. The current General Law of Telecommunications (Ley General de Telecomunicaciones (LGT) already puts some restrictions on the use of cryptography. The second part of article 52 (‘Cifrado en las redes y servicios de telecomunicaciones’, that is, network encryption and telecommunication services) […]

March 27, 2003 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Surveillance and data retention

UK home office not amused with big brother award

Yesterday, Privacy International announced the winners of the 5th Annual UK ‘Big Brother’ awards to the government and private sector organisations that have done the most to invade personal privacy in Britain. Winner of the award for worst public servant is London Mayor Ken Livingstone, for his efforts in transport surveillance. Prime Minister Tony Blair […]

March 27, 2003

Stupid security measures in Europe

During last weeks CFP conference (Computer Freedom Privacy) in New York, Simon Davies from UK EDRi-member Privacy International announced the winners of the Stupid Security Awards. The jury received some 5.000 nominations from 35 different countries. Though most of the winners are American, Europe also produced some very noteworthy stupid security measures. UK mobile phone […]

March 12, 2003 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Surveillance and data retention

Limiting the storage of traffic data

The European data commissioners (through the Article 29 working group) have pleaded for a maximum storage period of half a year for traffic data that telecommunication companies store for billing purposes. With the opinion paper the working group tries to limit the duration and scope of traffic data storage. “Traffic data should be kept for […]

March 12, 2003 · Blogs | Data protection standards

Update on anti-spam legislation

In the previous EDRI-gram 6 EU-countries were mentioned that already have a spam-ban, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Greece, Italy and Austria, plus Hungary and Norway in Europe-at-large. We can now add France, Romania and Poland to this list. French E-Commerce Directive (approved 26.02.2003 in the Lower House) http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/ta/ta0089-2.pdf Polish E-commerce Directive (effective 10.03.2003) http://www.giodo.gov.pl/English/ust_podpis_el.htm Romanian E-commerce […]

March 12, 2003 · Blogs | Privacy and data protection | Surveillance and data retention

Call for public views on video-surveillance

The European data protection commissioners, united in the Article 29 Working Party, invite the public to respond to a position paper about videosurveillance. The paper gives an interesting overview of the differences in legislation and measures adopted in the different member states since the transposition of the Privacy Directive (95/46/EC). The Commissioners are specifically worried […]