Privacy and confidentiality
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Please sue us
Each of the Member States of the European Union is required to incorporate European directives into national legislation. If a Member State does not obey this obligation, the European Commission can sue this country in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). But what actions can a country take if such directives force […]
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Dutch dragnet surveillance bill leaked
On 29 April, the final text for the Dutch dragnet surveillance bill was leaked. It turns out that Minister of the Dutch Interior Ronald Plasterk is still bent on granting the secret services the power to carry out bulk interception of innocent citizens’ communications.
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Danish committee on citizens IT-rights
The Danish ministry of science and technology has mandated a committee on citizens IT-rights. The committee has representatives from various ministries, consumer organisations, the IT-business sector and civil society. EDRi-member Digital Rights has participated in the committee since it started its work in September 2002. The aim of the committee is to give recommendations to […]
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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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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 […]
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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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EU questionnaire on spam-ban
Per 31 October 2003 spamming will be prohibited in all EU member states, but it is completely unclear what authority should supervise the spam-ban. The European Commission doesn’t have a ready-made answer, and is currently asking privacy-authorities and telecommunications ministries what approach they prefer. The new Privacy Directive prohibits the sending of unsolicited e-mail but […]
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Data-retention scandal in Ireland
Ireland has had a secret data retention regime for almost a year, after the Cabinet confidentially instructed telecommunications operators to store traffic information about every phone, fax and mobile call for at least three years. The Irish Data Protection Commissioner Joe Meade revealed this last monday at a forum on data retention. Telcos even used […]
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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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ID requirements in Europe
Only a few EU-member states currently have ID-requirements. Privacy-authorities and civil rights groups alike doubt the practical effects and warn against highly arbitrary checks. Belgium, France and Spain, where ID-requirements have been in place for a long time, have bad track-records of police discrimination. Belgium currently has the strictest legislation, requiring everybody age 15 and […]
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Finnish companies oppose law to censor internet
A coalition of Finnish telecom and media companies has joined the fight against proposed government legislation to make owners of message boards liable for all content, similar to print media. Additionally, Finnish government wants access to historical data to trace anonymous postings. The law therefore requires publishers and ISPs website to log practically all Internet […]
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