Data retention background:

• the European Parliament begins to consider a seven-year retention scheme in Summer 2001
• the European Parliament votes in support of allowing the scheme in May, 2002, supported by every single attending Irish MEP except Green Nuala Ahern. The vote directly conflicts with existing Irish data policy; see also Guardian report, Europe votes to end data privacy [31 May 2002]
• Data collectors need surveillance, too [BusinessWeek, 24 Jan 2002]: "Understanding how data, even public-record data, are used and by whom is important. After the September 11 attacks, Congress opened the gates for law enforcement to protect national security. Attempts to limit government access to information have been all but stopped in their tracks."
• Year in privacy: Citizens lose [commentary for Wired.com, 30 Dec 2002]
• Full PDF of Privacy and Human Rights 2002 report from EPIC and Privacy International (large file); or opt for the half of report that includes Ireland, starting on page 123).

Other countries and data retention and surveillance laws:

• EPIC's 'data retention' page with press coverage on the issue from numerous countries
• Finland proposes extensive data retention while the country's largest telco executives arrested for data misuse (Electronic Frontier Foundation Finland).
• FIPR archive of press coverage of UK Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Act
• Privacy International and EPIC released the Privacy and Human Rights 2002 report on 6 September. The 5th annual report reviews privacy, data protection, and surveillance laws in over 50 countries and shows the threats to privacy and related rights that have occurred since 11 September. Press Release. Map of data protection around the world. Link to full report (about 400 pages).

Leaked Council of Ministers document on data retention: This is what Ireland and other EU departments of justice had to say to the Council in a secret questionnaire on data retention. Minister McDowell has stated that his department is only at a very preliminary stage in thinking about a data retention law, yet here is his department's response to a question on whether Ireland had any specific plans for a retention law, on this months-old questionnaire:

The Direction (referred to in Answer 1) requires licensed operators to retain existing traffic data and future traffic data for not less than 3 years after the date of their generation.

The proposed primary legislation (referred to in Answer 1) will require licensed operators to retain information concerning the use made of telecommunications services provided by them for any person for a period of 3 years after such use.

It is expected that traffic data in the primary legislation will be defined in same manner as it has been in the Directions. Traffic data will mean any data processed by the licensed operator in connection with transmitting or receiving a telecommunication message on a telecommunications network or charging for it and includes, in relation to any message, data concerning

(a) its routing, duration or time,

(b) the location of the sender's or recipient's terminal equipment,

(c) the network on which the message originates or terminates, and

(d) the beginning, end or duration of its connection to the network

To the question: "Have you received any reports from your law enforcement authorities that have indicated an obstruction of their work due to the non-existence of appropriate legal instruments concerning traffic data retention?" the Department of Justice gave a single word answer: "NO."

EU Data Protection Commissioners' joint statement opposing mandatory data retention laws [11 Sept 2002]:

The European Data Protection Commissioners have grave doubt as to the legitimacy and legality of such broad measures. They also want to draw attention to the excessive costs that would be involved for the telecommunication and internet industry, as well as to the absence of such measures in the United States.

The European Data Protection Commissioners have repeatedly emphasized that such retention would be an improper invasion of the fundamental rights guaranteed to individuals by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as further elaborated by the European Court of Human Rights (see Opinion 4/2001 of the Article 29 Working Party established by Directive 95/46/EC, and Declaration of Stockholm, April 2000).

How your data can be misused and abused:

You are being watched: everyday activities leave trail of electronic data: "Armed with vast new surveillance powers granted in the aftermath of last year's terror attacks, law enforcement and security agencies are lining up powerful new tools to sift through the electronic trails left by virtually all Americans. 'This would basically create an electronic profile on everyone using information from all sources,' said Nancy Murray, director of the Massachusetts American Civil Liberties Union's Bill of Rights Education Project." [5 Jan 2002]

Database spied on citizens: security breaches of police system worry privacy activists: "The Canadian National Post reports more than a dozen public servants lost their jobs over the past three years for using the police database to carry out their own detective work – from spying on neighbors to keeping track of former boyfriends. The offenders – some of whom ended up in jail – sold the confidential data to private investigators, gave it to friends, and in one instance, used it "to meet persons of the opposite sex." The Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigated 98 confirmed security breaches of the Canadian Police Information Center, or CPIC, between Jan. 1, 2000, and Sept. 25, 2002." [31 Dec 2002] 

The Briscoe Syndrome:  "Fear of terrorism and a desire to cooperate with law enforcement has led many corporate insiders to pony up sensitive information on their customers to anyone with a badge... with no court order required." [29 Dec 2002]

DEA data thief sentenced to 27 months: "A 14-year veteran of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) who fled to Mexico to avoid federal computer crime charges was sentenced in a federal court in Los Angeles on Monday to 27 months in prison for selling information on private citizens he plundered from sensitive law enforcement databases." [18 Dec 2002]

Data retention: who's watching you?: "The scale of the situation was revealed during an inquiry in data retention by the All Party Internet Group (APIG) on Wednesday, when ISPs detailed the requests already flooding in from government agencies who want to look at the small amounts of data that are retained by ISPs for 'operational purposes'." [ZDNet UK, 13 Dec 2002]

ISPs spell out the true cost of data retention: "AOL alone would need 360,000 CDs a year to store all the data that the government is demanding, and the cost far exceeds the numbers that have been bandied around Westminster" [ZDNet UK, 12 Dec 2002]

Data retention backlash: "Business leaders have urged governments across Europe to scale down requirements for internet service providers to store their customers' e-mail and web records as part of the fight against international crime." [Financial Times, 9 Dec 2002] 

Police arrest former Sonera CEO Kaj-Erik Relander: "The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) began to question former Sonera President and CEO Kaj-Erik Relander on Tuesday evening. Relander's suspected crime is the same as with all the other arrested Sonera employees, gross violation of privacy in communications... The police investigations began when Helsingin Sanomat reported in October that Sonera had analysed the full telephone records of dozens of people in autumn 2000 and spring 2001 in order to determine who had leaked internal information to reporters." [27 Nov 2002]

Head of Sonera corporate communications arrested: "The police investigations into suspected illegal surveillance of telephone records at Sonera have now led to the telecommunications company's executive management team." [25 Nov 2002]

Privacy fears over EU snooping plans: "The move has been brought in under the guise of aiding the fight against terrorism but the draft proposal allows the information to be used during the investigation of almost any serious crime." [BBC, 20 Aug 2002]

Cops tap database to harass, intimidate: "Police throughout Michigan, entrusted with the personal and confidential information in a state law enforcement database, have used it to stalk women, threaten motorists and settle scores... Police said they think the system, which is used to make about 3 million background checks each month, is more widely abused than anyone knows." [Detroit Free Press, 21 July 2001]

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