Blog | Data Retention
Statement on collation of dossiers by Department of Heath and Departmental ROPA document
We were disturbed by recent revelations on RTE’s Prime Time Investigates in relation to the Department of Health. According to the program, the Department was collating dossiers on families who had made claims against the Department and other state bodies to seek to obtain their …
How the International Press Reported on Safe Harbor and Schrems
It’s been a hugely significant week for civil liberties in Europe. Following a judgement [PDF, 43kb] from the European Union’s Court of Justice, the Safe Harbour regime, which allowed the transfer of data from the EU to the United States, has been struck down. The …
DRI welcomes landmark data privacy judgement
Digital Rights Ireland welcomes the judgement [PDF, 43kb] from the European Court of Justice (CJEU) which has found that Safe Harbour, a regime allowing the transfer of EU citizens’ private data to the United States, is illegal. DRI was a party to the case (Schrems vs Data …
Facebook, Schrems, and the ECJ: An Update
You may have seen on social media that today is #DigitalRightsMatter day, which is really to say, today is like every other day. Because, for an increasing number of people in the world, digital rights matter every single day. Being able to communicate with tax …
Data Privacy Day: Three Hot Button Issues in Ireland
Data Privacy Day (DPD), celebrated annually on Jan. 28, is an international effort centred on “Respecting Privacy, Safeguarding Data and Enabling Trust.” As data protection issues have moved into the sphere of broad consumer interest here in Ireland, one of the ways organisations, particularly state …
Leaked: European Parliament legal opinion on data retention
Our friends at Access have obtained a copy of the much anticipated European Parliament legal opinion on data retention the day before it is due to be considered by the Parliament. This is a report by the Parliament’s Legal Service which sets out an authoritative interpretation of the …
Data retention held unconstitutional in Slovenia
The Slovenian Constitutional Court has ruled data retention to be unconstitutional and ordered deletion of data collected under the law. Following an application by the Slovenian Information Commissioner the court held that data retention is disproportionate on the basis that: unselective retention of data in …
Romanian Constitutional Court holds data retention unconstitutional
Yesterday the Romanian Constitutional Court held – for the second time – that a national data retention law is unconstitutional (official press release, Romanian only). The ruling follows a 2009 decision of the Constitutional Court striking down an earlier law implementing the Data Retention Directive. …
Surveillance in Ireland: towards transparency
Where can you find the annual reports of the judges who oversee surveillance in Ireland? What is the agreement under which Irish ISPs provide communications data to gardaí? In what cases have the courts considered interception of communications under Irish law? What internal controls do …
Austrian Constitutional Court rules data retention unconstitutional
Congratulations to our Austrian friends and fellow plaintiffs before the European Court of Justice on today’s ruling from the Austrian Constitutional Court that their national data retention law is unconstitutional (German press release, PDF). It is a great success for a case brought by literally …
Tomorrow’s ECJ judgment: Q&A
Tomorrow the European Court of Justice will give judgment in our case challenging mass surveillance under the Data Retention Directive. Here’s a summary of the background. What is the case about? It’s a challenge to data retention – i.e. laws which require ISPs and mobile …
European Court ruling condemns mass surveillance
The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice today gave an important opinion in our favour in a case brought by Digital Rights Ireland to challenge European mass surveillance law. The challenge – which we started in 2006 – is to the Data Retention …