Statewatch press release, 29 April 2004

EU: Data retention comes to roost - telephone and internet privacy to
be abolished

See:

The governments of France, Ireland, the Kingdom of Sweden and UK have
proposed a draft EU Framework Decision that if adopted will see all
telecommunications location and traffic data retained for between 1
and 3 years, or longer, should the member states choose. Key points:

- proposal broader in scope than 2002 version leaked by Statewatch;
grave gaps in civil liberties protection remain;

- data to be held for between 12 and 36 months, though member states
can opt for longer if they choose;

- data to be retained extended from "traffic data" to traffic and
"location data";

- scope extended from 32 specific offences to any crime;

- scope extended from specific investigations and prosecutions to
"prevention and detection" of crime.

The proposal brings home to roost long standing demands by the law
enforcement community for the compulsory retention, and thus
surveillance, of all telecommunications data.

See:

Ben Hayes of Statewatch comments:

"If this proposal was a genuine anti-terrorism measure it would be
clearly restricted to terrorist offences. The fact that it is so broad
as to potentially cover any crime shows just how cynically EU
governments are exploiting the climate engendered by 'September 11'
and now 'March 11'.

This is a proposal so intrusive that that Ashcroft, Ridge and company
can only dream about it, exceeding even the US Patriot Act.

What is needed is good intelligence on specific threats, rather than
mass surveillance of everyone, generating more data than can usefully
be analysed. The increase in convictions of people exchanging child
pornography has come without wide-ranging data retention. This
proposal is disproportionate, unnecessary and has no place in a
democracy."


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Statewatch: Monitoring the state and civil liberties in Europe
 http://www.statewatch.org