Posted by Emil A. Georgiev on 23 January, 2010
Well, some have always suspected what Austria’s Die Presse has recently reported thereby quoting an official.
The gentleman in question is Christian Pilnacek who is the Head of the Criminal Procedure Department within the Austrian Ministry of Justice. When asked by a journalist, he confirmed the information, according to which the data retention provisions’ applicability should not be limited to only so called “serious crimes”. The latter is, by the way, what the Directive 2006/24 requires. It has been said that this idea has originated in the Ministry of Justice and has found support in the Ministry of Interior. Moreover, in the officials’ view retained data should be accessible in the prosecution of minor crimes and/or in dealing with civil wrongs and hence would perfectly fit in the scope of the provisions conveyed by the Enforcement Directive.
Now the show is over. Seemingly, the entertainment business’ lobbyists have done a good job for their clients. See whether the idea shall prove capable of gaining a legislative majority.
Posted in data retention, privacy | Tagged: austria, civil wrongs, hypocrisy, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice, minor crimes | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Emil A. Georgiev on 14 December, 2009
About an year ago I composed one of my first blog postings and asked “Will the data retention directive be fully implemented across Europe?”. The reason behind was the then pending decision of the ECJ caused by Ireland’s concern on the data retention directive’s grounds legitimacy and, the wrong way the directive was initially implemented in Bulgaria.
Recently, I covered the startling deciosion of the Romanian Constitutional Court that rejected the data retention implementing act due to inconsistency with constitutionally guaranteed and fundamental human rights, such as the right to privacy. Seemingly, this decision will not remain a single one.
In a hearing, appointed for tomorrow, the German Constitutional Court is expected to deal with the mass-complaint filed by nearly 35 000 citizens in which they ask the Court to abrogate the provisions on data retention. I believe the whole data retention concept would then fall apart, if the German Constitutional Court decided in favour of the complainants.
Press releases in Austria which, in my view, attempt to encourage the government in its Fabian position towards data retention, even call for a final ruling by the ECJ on the overall legitimacy of the data retention concept. In such a case, the ECJ will have to scrutinise whether the data retention directive is conciliable with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union that, together with the Treaty of Lisbon, is in force as of 1 December 2009.
Posted in data protection, data retention, privacy | Tagged: complaint, data retention, german constitutional court, implementation | 5 Comments »
