Blog | Data Retention
Romanian Constitutional Court finds data retention law unconstitutional
From an email by Bogdan Manolea: The Romanian Constitutional Court declared, yesterday afternoon, the data retention law (law 298/2008) as unconstitutional, as it breaches art 28 of the Romanian Constitution which provides that secrecy of the letters, telegrams and other postal communications, of telephone conversations, …
Data Retention – Should it be left to a private agreement between the State and Telcos?
Karlin Lillington has a strong piece in today’s Irish Times about a leaked draft agreement on data retention between state agencies (the Garda Síochána, Revenue and Defence Forces) and the telecoms industry (represented by ALTO, TIF and the ISPAI). Her comments are worth quoting extensively: …
More thoughts on the Data Retention Bill
Daithi MacSithigh has put together a summary of problems with the Bill – cross posted here with his permission: The Minister for Justice in Ireland published the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill last week: it was made available on the Oireachtas website (and brought to …
“If you’ve nothing to hide, you’ve nothing to fear”
Speaking on the Last Word with Matt Cooper earlier today FF TD Niall Collins trotted out that old canard – “if you’ve nothing to hide, you’ve nothing to fear” – in relation to the new data retention bill. Curiously, when asked if he’d be happy …
German court rules that data retention “violates fundamental right to privacy”
Good news from our friends in the German Working Group against Data Retention: As the first German court, the Administrative Court of Wiesbaden has found the blanket recording of the entire population’s telephone, mobile phone, e-mail and Internet usage (known as data retention) disproportionate. The …
Department of Justice continues tradition of secrecy on data retention
You might have noticed Karlin Lillington’s story in the Irish Times today about the Department of Justice’s new proposals on data retention. To make a long story short, it turns out that the Attorney General was not impressed with its remarkable plans to change the …
Keeping an eye on UK developments
Karlin Lillington has an interesting story in today’s Irish Times on recent UK developments in surveillance and what they might mean for Ireland. Here’s an excerpt: NET RESULTS: When it comes to abuse of privacy, where Britain goes, Ireland tends to follow. That’s why we …
Oireachtas Committee rejects passenger records proposals
The Irish Times is reporting that the Joint Committee on European Scrutiny (a cross party committee which examines proposed EU legislation) has published a report which is highly critical of European proposals on passenger records. The draft Framework Decision on the Use of Passenger Name …
English DPP warns against “relentless pressure of a security State”
The outgoing head of the Crown Prosecution Service and DPP for England and Wales, Sir Ken MacDonald QC, has used his retirement speech to warn against UK government proposals to expand data retention: As I near my conclusion, let me, in my final public speech …
Data Retention – Advocate General recommends Irish Government challenge should be rejected
The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice has just given his Opinion (summary, PDF) on the Irish Government’s challenge and has recommended to the Court that the challenge should be rejected, holding that the Data Retention Directive was correctly dealt with as an …
Data Retention – Advocate General will give opinion on Irish Challenge in two weeks
The agenda of the European Court of Justice has just listed Tuesday, October 14 for the Advocate General’s opinion on the State’s challenge to the Data Retention Directive. This won’t be a final decision – the Advocate General gives an opinion which is merely advisory …
Irish Times opinion piece on data retention
The Irish Times published an opinion piece today from us on data retention. A subscription is required to read it at that link, so here’s the full text: Violations only made worse by new plans for data retention The Government is planning an alarming expansion …