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Deutsch: WP29 Datenschutzgruppe kritisiert Umsetzung der Vorratsdatenspeicherun...

Article 29 Working Party (WP29) adopted during their meeting on 12-14 July 2010 a report on the implementation of the European data retention directive 2006/24/EC reaching the conclusion that the directive is currently not applied in a homogenous manner by all EU member states.

The report, which is a result of a joint inquiry performed by data protection authorities in EU member states, shows that the European directive is interpreted and implemented differently in the EU countries. According to the directive, the member states may choose a retention period between 6-24 months.

"The Article 29 W

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Deutsch: Vorratsdatenspeicherung – Zeit für evidenzbasierte Entscheidungen

In June 2010 the European Parliament adopted a farcical "written declaration" ostensibly on the creation of an "early warning system" to fight pedophiles. Funded by unknown sources, the MEPs in charge (Zaborska from the Czech Republic and Motti from Italy) put together the Declaration in order to promote the retention of communications data and the extension of this practice to "search engines".

After tabling the declaration, a highly polished, American-style lobby campaign went into operation.

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Deutsch: Irisches Gericht lässt Vorratsdatenspeicherung vom EuGH prüfen

Recently, the Irish High Court ruled in favour of EDRi-member Digital Rights Ireland (DRI) allowing the civil liberties campaign group to challenge the EU Data Retention Directive at the European Court of Justice (ECJ). This is the result of four years of work by the legal team of the group.

In its action introduced in 2008 against the Ministers for Communications and Justice, the Garda Commissioner and the State, DRI claimed the defendants had illegally processed and stored data related to DRI and other mobile phone users contrary to Irish and European law.

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Deutsch: Deutsche Zivilgesellschaft fordert endgültigen Stopp der Vorratsdaten...

More than 40 organisations and associations have sent a letter asking the German Federal Minister of Justice to "push for the abolition of EU telecommunications data retention requirements" which compel phone and Internet companies to collect data about their customers' communications. According to the letter, data retention puts confidential activity and contacts (for example journalists, crisis lines and business partners) at risk of disclosure by way of data leaks and abuses.

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Deutsch: Deutsches Bundesverfassungsgericht weist Vorratsdatenspeicherungsgeset...

The German Federal Constitutional Court rejected on 2 March 2010 the legislation requiring electronic communications traffic data retention for a period of 6 months.

The legislation on data retention, implementing the similar EU Directive, was passed by the Bundestag on 9 November 2007 and entered into force on 1 January 2008.

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Deutsch: Belgien: Neues zur Umsetzung der Vorratsdatenspeicherung

The transposition of the Data Retention Directive in Belgium has remained stagnant for a long time. Following a public consultation in May 2008 on a first draft law proposal and draft royal decree to transpose this Directive into Belgian law, a broad group of organisations voiced a strong position against the Data Retention Directive and the way in which the Belgian government wanted to transpose this into the national law.

Not only did the government choose for a maximal transposition (e.g.

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Deutsch: Neue ACTA-Verhandlungsrunde: Die Haltung der EU

A new round of negotiations on ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) is taking place from 26 to 29 January 2010 in Guadalajara, Mexico. As announced by some countries participating in the event the main topics of the new negotiations are: civil enforcement, border measures and enforcement procedures in the digital environment.

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Deutsch: Proteste gegen Abhöraktionen und das Vorratsdatenspeicherungsgesetz i...

A protest will take place in Bulgaria on 14 January 2010 in front of the Parliament against the data retention law that the Bulgarian Interior Ministry keeps on pushing ahead with obstinacy.

On 10 December 2009, the Parliamentary Committee on internal security and public order approved, behind closed doors, the amendments proposed by the Interior Ministry to the Electronic Communications Act (ECA) and on 22 December 2009 the amendments were passed in first reading in an emergency meeting by the Parliament despite the large public and media opposition.

The proposed amendments contain provi