The Parliament’s vote on a proposed Directive on the protection
of privacy in the electronic communications sector is scheduled for
29th May. Among the issues in the draft Directive is data retention
and related obligations, options and limitations for Member
States.
Controversy surrounds how long personal data can or should be
held by communications service providers, such as ISPs and telcos,
and for what purposes.
The open letter, signed by the Electronic Privacy Information
Center, Statewatch, the American Civil Liberties Union, the
Electronic Frontier Foundation, LIBERTY and others, recommends that
MEPs do not vote for any amendment to the proposed Directive that
would leave Member States free to decide on the issue of data
retention.
The letter states:
"We believe that data retention of
communications by law enforcement authorities should only be
employed in exceptional cases. It should be authorised only by the
judicial or other competent authorities on a case-by-case basis.
When permitted, data retention must be a necessary, appropriate,
proportionate and temporary measure, in accordance with the
European Convention on Human Rights, the European Union Charter of
Fundamental Rights, and the case law of the European Court of Human
Rights."
It continues:
"We recommend opposing the language of the
Council's common position of 28 January because it allows Member
States to authorise general and exploratory electronic surveillance
on a large scale. While the fight against terrorism is a legitimate
purpose, we do not believe it can justify actions that undermine
the most fundamental rights of democratic states."
The letter also alleges that some Member States have “secretly”
drafted a Framework Decision to compel all Member States to
introduce a law to compel retention of traffic data which, the
authors claim, “clearly shows the Council and EU governments' total
disregard for the European Parliament's opinion.“
Individuals are also being encouraged to endorse the letter, and
can do so on-line until May 28.
See:
