Data Retention Challenge – High Court update
After last week’s excitement, this week is something of an anti-climax – when the case came back before the High Court today the State applied for and were granted further time to consider the judgment. The case will be listed next on June 11th. …
High Court decision on our data retention challenge
Great news today from the High Court where Mr. Justice McKechnie gave an extremely favourable decision on our constitutional challenge to data retention laws. While the full judgment is 53 pages long, the gist is relatively simple. Long story short: today’s decision has cleared the …
Adrian Weckler: Why Internet Blocking Won’t Work
Adrian Weckler of the Sunday Business Post has an excellent recent column on the current EU proposals to require internet blocking: The European Commission has proposed a directive requiring internet service providers (ISPs) to ban access to websites displaying child pornography. Unfortunately, this is the …
FOI shows Department of Justice planning internet blocking for Ireland
In January we filed a Freedom of Information Request with the Department of Justice asking for all documents dealing with internet blocking by ISPs. Last month the response came back – refusing access to almost every internal document! Sometimes, however, it can be informative to …
Why German data retention decision means Irish Bill should be scrapped
Karlin Lillington writes in today’s Irish Times about the German decision striking down data retention law as a breach of privacy and what it means for the Data Retention Bill currently before the Oireachtas. Here’s an excerpt: ANALYSIS: Data retention proposals about to become law …
Press Release on German Data Retention Decision
The civil rights organisation which brought the successful challenge to data retention before the German Constitutional Court has now issued a press release on that decision. Here’s the full text: Press release by the German Working Group on Data Retention (AK Vorrat) 2 March 2010: …
German Constitutional Court strikes down data retention law
Great news from Germany, where the Federal Constitutional Court has found data retention law to be incompatible with the right to privacy under the German Constitution. More thoughts on the decision and the implications for our own case at a later stage, but for the …
Why Irish defamation law is still inadequate for the internet
The Defamation Act 2009 was hugely controversial for the blasphemy offence it created. Lost in the noise, however, was the fact that it did very little to improve the position of online speech. Before the draft Bill was published, we identified several areas which needed …
Reform of search warrants must take computer searches into account
The Law Reform Commission has just published a consultation paper on search warrants and bench warrants. In relation to search warrants it points out there is currently a bewildering array of statutory provisions (over 100 different Acts and Regulations) which deal with searches, with different …
English translation of Romanian data retention decision now available
Last month the Romanian Constitutional Court issued an important decision holding that national data retention laws were unconstitutional and in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. The full text of that judgment is now available in English and makes cheering reading for civil …
Data Retention Bill at Committee Stage
The Data Retention Bill goes to Committee Stage before the Dáil today. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties have put together some excellent submissions on how the Bill should be amended to protect fundamental rights – a copy is here. Séan Sherlock (Lab.) is also …
Romanian Constitutional Court finds data retention law unconstitutional
From an email by Bogdan Manolea: The Romanian Constitutional Court declared, yesterday afternoon, the data retention law (law 298/2008) as unconstitutional, as it breaches art 28 of the Romanian Constitution which provides that secrecy of the letters, telegrams and other postal communications, of telephone conversations, …
