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Privacy in Germany 2008: A new fundamental right, a privacy mass movement, and the usual surveillance suspects
(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The year of 2008 can be marked as the year where privacy moved high on the public agenda in Germany. On 1st of January, the law on data retention went into effect, which made Germany drop from number one to seven in the country ranking published by […]
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Ireland proposes to legalise covert surveillance
(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The Irish Government has approved the outline of a Bill which, if passed by Parliament, will permit police to break into private property to plant covert audio bugs and video cameras. The Covert Surveillance Bill is intended to legitimise what is already believed to be existing practice, […]
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House of the German Pirate Party spokesman raided by Police
(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The Bavarian Police searched the house of the German Pirate Party spokesman on the 11 September 2008, searching for information on some leaked plans regarding a Skype wire tap project, that were published by the Party. The Pirate Party published some documents received from an anonymous whistleblower […]
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FRA has a long history of spying on Swedes
The Swedish National Defence Radio Establishment FRA that has made the headlines last month with its law on spying on all communication, has recently announced that it has reported a blogger to the Chancellor of Justice for distributing what they consider classified material proving the Agency was spying on Swedes starting with 1996. Henrik Alexandersson […]
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Serbian Telecom Agency publishes Internet traffic interception rules
Serbia’s Republic Agency for Telecommunications (RATEL) published on 21 July 2008 a document of Instructions for Technical Requirements for Subsystems, Devices, Hardware and Installation of Internet Networks. The document explains the technical requirements for authorized monitoring of some telecom services and provides a list of obligations for the telecom operators. According with the present text, […]
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Liberty groups win long court battle against UK wiretapping
(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) After nine years of legal battle by civil rights groups in London and Dublin, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on 1 July 2008 that UK Government had violated Human Rights by tapping their communications between 1990 and 1997. Liberty groups, along with British Irish Rights […]
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ENDitorial: Sweden is listening to all internet and phone conversations
(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) In Denmark we already have Data Retention in place and the rest of Europe will follow soon. That means that our own countries demand that Internet companies and phone companies log who we phone, email with, chat with, which websites we visit, etc. This is something that […]
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Deutsche Telekom under investigation for spying on its employees
(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The giant German telecommunication company is under investigation by national prosecutors for a presumed breach of privacy, after having spied on the phone calls of its managers, journalists and even board members. According to Der Spiegel newspaper, the former monopoly incumbent operator – still 31.7% owned by […]
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German Intelligence caught spying on journalist's emails
(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The German Federal Intelligence Service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), has been recently under pressure for having illicitly monitored the e-mails between Spiegel correspondent Susanne Koelbl and Afghanistan’s Commerce Minister Amin Farhang. The German parliamentary commission in charge with investigating the activities of the secret services (PKG) criticised BND, […]
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Germany: New basic right to privacy of computer systems
(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The German Constitutional Court published on 27 February 2008 a landmark ruling about the constitutionality of secret online searches of computers by government agencies. The decision constitutes a new “basic right to the confidentiality and integrity of information-technological systems” as derived from the German Constitution. The journalist […]
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Key privacy concerns in Romania 2007
(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) Privacy and data protection seems not to be a hot topic for the Romanian society. The media is generally ignoring the topic, unless something related to an important public figure is making the subject out of the ordinary. The Romanian Data Protection Authority has failed in becoming […]
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US law threatens non-US citizens' privacy rights
(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) A Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act proposed by the US Administration was passed by the US Congress on 4 August 2007 allowing US intelligence services to intercept electronic communications between US, but also non-US citizens, if the communication passes across US-based networks, without needing a court order. A […]
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