Telecommunication data retention
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Many EU-websites violate privacy-rules
According to research by World IT Lawyers, a majority of European websites violates EU directives protecting on-line consumers. More than half of the researched websites lacks essential information about the on-line buying procedure or the consumer right to cancel an order within 7 days. On top of that, almost half of the websites of companies […]
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Global Privacy Award announced
The human rights group Privacy International (PI) has announced that it will this year host the first international Big Brother Awards. The Awards, which started in the UK in 1998, were established to ‘name and shame’ the most relentless government and private sector privacy invaders. They have now become an annual event in fifteen countries. […]
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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
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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, […]
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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 […]
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User registration prepaid cards in Switzerland
Telecom providers in Switzerland must register user data for prepaid cards and keep the data available for a period of 2 years. Parliament decided today to add this obligation to a series of new anti-terrorism measures. None of the EU member states have a similar obligation. Telecom providers have always argued against mandatory identification, pointing […]
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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 […]
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USA gets direct access to European passenger data
From 5 March onwards, USA officials will have direct electronic access to databases with EU passenger data. On 19 February, U.S. Deputy Customs Commissioner Douglas Browning and officials of the European Commission agreed to give the custom officials direct access to the personal data of passengers flying to, from and through the United States. These […]
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Dutch interception secrecy
The quantity of police interceptions of telecommunication in the Netherlands is higher than anywhere else in the world, according to the few available official statistics. Government however, tries to maintain secrecy about the exact numbers and the technical specifications of the equipment. Last week, a Freedom-of-Information request by EDRi-member Bits of Freedom for statistics covering […]
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Microsoft Passport does not comply with European privacy rules
Microsoft has agreed to change its Passport authentication system, after the publication on 29 January of a very critical review by the united EU privacy commissioners. Besides the Microsoft .NET Passport system, the commissioners, united in the so-called Article 29 Working Party, also examined the Liberty Alliance Project. The review concludes with general guidelines for […]
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