Software patents

August 24, 2005

German industry position paper against data retention

The general German industry association (BDI) and the two telecommunication associations (BITKOM and VATM) have jointly published a strong position paper against the European proposals for mandatory data retention. The German industry calls on both the European Commission and the ministers of Justice and Home Affairs to provide a solid and adequate impact assessment, since […]

August 24, 2005

Petition update

The EDRI and XS4ALL petition against data retention has attracted almost 30.000 signatures, of which over 10.000 from the Netherlands (where the campaign was launched) and over 5.000 from Germany. The number three position is held by Finland, with almost 5.000 signatures. Runners-up in the daily country count are Bulgaria, Austria and Italy, with over […]

August 10, 2005

21.000 signatures against data retention

Over 21.000 people have already signed the new EDRI and XS4ALL petition against mandatory data retention. The petition is now available in 13 languages, including Bulgarian, Polish, Czech and Hungarian and will remain open for signatures until October 2005. Divided per country, the Netherlands keep their number 1 position, with over 7.300 signatures. But relatively, […]

August 10, 2005

Italy decrees data retention until 31 December 2007

On 27 July 2005 the Italian government published a decree ‘with urgent measures to fight international terrorism’. Under Article 6 all telephony providers are obliged to store traffic data until 31 December 2007. The measure was converted into law on 31 July 2005. The data retention period for information about mobile and fixed telephony in […]

August 10, 2005

German court outlaws wiretapping without court order

The German Constitutional Court has outlawed a special security law of the state of Niedersachsen that allowed police to wiretap telephone connections without any specific suspicion, as well as collect traffic data, GSM location data, e-mail and SMS traffic. The ruling also affects the state of Thuringen, with a similar law, and Bavaria, currently developing […]

July 27, 2005

Act now: sign the EDRI petition against data retention!

July 27, 2005

New EU Commission proposal data retention

The European Commission has finally produced its draft directive on data retention. According to the Commission, all fixed and mobile telephony traffic and location data from all private and legal persons should be stored for 1 year. Data about communications ‘using solely the internet protocol’ should be stored for 6 months. The Commission does not […]

July 27, 2005

EDRI launches petition against data retention

European Digital Rights, together with the Dutch ISPs XS4ALL and Bit, launched an international petition today against mandatory data retention. The petition is aimed at the European Commission and the members of the European Parliament. EDRI argues that retention of telecommunication traffic data is an invasive tool that interferes with the private life of all […]

July 14, 2005

Europarl protests against UK push for EU data retention

On Wednesday morning 13 July 2005 UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke met with the European Parliament Committee on Citizens’ Rights, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE). His plan to push through data retention during the UK presidency of the European Council, no matter in what pillar, met with great protest. The Social-Democrats, the Greens and the […]

July 14, 2005

UK ISPs voluntarily preserve internetdata

Immediately after the London attacks on 7 July 2005, the National High Tech Crime Unit sent an e-mail to the UK provider association and to the London Internet Exchange asking for voluntary help in preserving traffic data of telephone and internet, but also the contents of e-mails, voice-mails and SMS. Some technicians outside of the […]

July 12, 2005

EDRI calls for restraint in extraordinary JHA Council

EDRI press release Tuesday 12 July, 13.00 PM European Digital Rights and Privacy International have sent an urgent letter today to the UK Presidency and the European Commissioners for Justice and Media to show restraint in tomorrow’s extraordinary JHA Council. EDRI expects the UK Presidency to table a new urgent procedure for the proposal on […]

June 29, 2005

Dutch study fails to prove usefulness and necessity data retention

On 22 June 2005 the Dutch Erasmus University published a report about the usefulness and necessity of data retention for law enforcement purposes. The report is the first public research in Europe into the actual use by law enforcement of historical traffic data. The researchers looked at 65 police investigations that were provided by the […]