Slashdot Mirror
EU Still Looking at Mandatory Data Retention
An anonymous reader writes "Following up on a
previous Slashdot article,
European civil rights advocacy group
Statewatch
is detecting more rumbles of a possible
weakening of privacy rights in the EU. The
European council has been testing the waters
for a new policy mandating retention of
communications "traffic data" by all member states. The previous policy (adopted May 30) merely allowed an exception to EU privacy law for member states who wished to retain such data.
Under the leaked draft proposal, law enforcement is to be allowed access to "traffic data" (identifying source, destination, time, etc.), which is similar to current US law. However, much worse is the requirement that telco providers retain such data for 12-24 months.
Text of the
draft framework decision
is available.
Also
analysis
by Statewatch.
Backup link (in case of Slashdot effect)."
I suspect that the US and UK and other governments spy agencies already have access to whatever electronic communications they want to tap.
This is the case in the UK with regard to phones, however phone tap data is never used in court here because the state might then have to admit how they got it -- they would rather not convict people then admit their sources and the extent of the eve dropping that is going on.
I suspect that draft proposals like this are based on the old trick -- suggest something totally over the top and impossible to implement then let well meaning people water it down, claim that government cares and listens and at the end of the day still get away with yet another outrageous new law and yet more erosion of privacy and civil liberties.
But then again I'm probably not cynical enough, it's probably far worse than I can imagine already...
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I know our benevolant, wise, and responsible US Federal Government would never enact such blantant acts of controll over its freedom-loving, tuned in, and watchful citizens. Oh, wait... /me packs his things and heads for Antarctica