EU privacy chief slams data retention directive

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EU privacy chief slams data retention directive

Monica Horten

Published on 31 May 2011

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), Peter Hustinx, has today issued a call for radical changes to the directive which mandates ISPs and phone companies to store users' traffic data.

In a public statement, he says that the Data Retention directive does not meet the requirements imposed by the rights to privacy and data protection, both of which are guaranteed as fundamental rights under EU law.

Mr Hustinx was commenting on a report by the European Commission, released in April, which evaluates the implementation of the directive. Whilst he understands that retained traffic data is sometimes needed, for example, in criminal investigations, he says

that the directive could have been less intrusive, and should have been more clear on the purpose for which the data was to be retained.

He is critical of the vague and imprecise language of the Data Retention directive, which allows for very different implementations in the different Member States. And he argues that this means there is little harmonisation across the European Union, which is a problem.

He also draws attention to the failure of the European Commission to demonstate a need for this law.

Mr Hustinx makes three key recommendations for any revision of the directive, or replacement law. The law should be proportionate, and not go further than necessary, it should have a clear and precise purpose which cannot be circumvented, and it should provide for a consistent implementation across all 27 Member States.

The Data Retention directive was bullied through the European Parliament in 2006 under the British Presidency. Its language is indeed imprecise and was described by experts at the time as being technically nonsense.

The European Commission is considering whether to amend the Data Retention Directive.

Evaluation shows that the Data Retention Directive does not meet privacy and data protection requirements, says EDPS

Pleae attribute this article: Monica Horten (2011) EU data protection chief slams data retention directive http://www.iptegrity.com 31 May 2011 .

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