[huridocs-tech] GILC: Euro Data Retention Decision Provokes Alarm

----- Original Message ------
From: gilc@gilc.org

GILC Alert
Volume 6, Issue 4
6 June 2002


GILC: Euro Data Retention Decision Provokes Alarm

Critics have savaged the European Parliament's adoption of a law that
permits data retention for police purposes.

A recently approved European Union Directive will allow national
governments to introduce legislation that will (a) require
telecommunications companies to retain traffic and localization data
about their customers and (b) give law enforcement agents access to this
data. The type of information to be collected under this scheme could
include such items as web surfing histories, email trails, fax logs,
credit card numbers with holders' names, callers' and recipients' names,
connection times, chatroom user IDs, and the geographic locations of
individual mobile phones. In the past, such information could only be
retained for billing purposes, then discarded; under the new rules, the
data could be kept for an indeterminate period. Although the Directive
does contain references to several human rights agreements, it does not
require specific measures be taken to protect those rights.

The decision came despite heavy opposition from various quarters. The
Global Internet Liberty Campaign issued a letter urging the EP "to vote
against general and exploratory data retention of individuals'
electronic communications by law enforcement authorities. ... Wide data
retention powers for law enforcement authorities, especially if they
were used on a routine basis and on a large part of the population,
could have disastrous consequences for the most sensitive and
confidential types of personal data." Thousands of individual Internet
users from around the world signed on to this letter, while similar
objections were aired by a number of EP members, including Ilka
Schroeder and Marco Cappato. The battle will now shift to the
legislatures of the constituent national governments. Implementation of
the Directive could take two to five years.

For more information, visit the Electronic Privacy Information Center
(EPIC-a GILC member) website under
http://www.epic.org/privacy/intl/data_retention.html

To read a European Commission press release on the EP vote, visit
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/0 
2/783|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display=

The aforementioned GILC letter is posted under
http://www.gilc.org/cox_en.html

If you wish to sign the GILC letter, click
http://www.stop1984.com/index2.php?lang=en&text=letter.txt

Read Stuart Millar, "Europe votes to end data privacy," The Guardian,
May 31, 2002 at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/internetnews/story/0,7369,725204,00.html

See "European 'spying' laws savaged," BBC News Online, May 30, 2002 at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_2016000/2016848.stm

Read "EU vote relaxes e-privacy rules," Reuters, May 31, 2002 at
http://zdnet.com.com/2102-1105-929605.html

Further analysis is available from the Statewatch website under
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2002/may/15epvote.htm


The GILC News Alert is the newsletter of the Global Internet Liberty
Campaign, an international coalition of organizations working to protect
and enhance online civil liberties and human rights. Organizations are
invited to join GILC by contacting us at gilc@gilc.org.

To alert members about threats to cyber liberties, please contact
members from your country or send a message to the general GILC
address.  To submit information about upcoming events, new activist
tools and news stories, contact:

Christopher Chiu
GILC Coordinator
American Civil Liberties Union
125 Broad Street, 17th Floor
New York, New York 10004
USA

Or email:
cchiu@aclu.org

More information about GILC members and news is available at
http://www.gilc.org

You may re-print or redistribute the GILC NEWS ALERT freely.

To subscribe to the alert, please send e-mail to gilc-announce@gilc.org
with the following message in the body:
subscribe gilc-announce


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