Blog | Data Retention
Implementing data retention – where’s the consultation?
This is a letter which the Department of Justice wrote in July 2006 indicating that they would consult us before drafting any measures implementing the Data Retention Directive. 18 months later we still haven’t heard anything concrete from them, despite reports that they plan to …
Today is European Data Protection Day – What can you do to safeguard your privacy?
Today, Monday 28th, is European Data Protection Day. Last year we marked this with a post giving some practical ways in which you could protect your privacy. This year, the single most important thing you could do is to help stop data retention in Ireland. …
DRI condemns backdoor implementation of surveillance laws
Government proposals to introduce surveillance of all internet users are unacceptable. The proposed law will require Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to log details of every email, every instant message or chat message, and every time users log on or log off, and to store that …
UK security breach shows why data retention must be stopped
From the Irish Times: Britain’s prime minister Gordon Brown and chancellor Alistair Darling were left reeling last night after the astonishing disclosure that the personal data of 25 million people and 7.25 million families across the UK has been lost. The Metropolitan Police are now …
Say no to a mobile phone register
DRI opposes Government proposals to introduce mandatory registration of mobile phones. These proposals will infringe on the privacy of every mobile phone user, as well as being expensive, impracticable and ineffective. But you don’t have to take our word for it. Here’s what the Department …
RTÉ’s This Week on Mobile Phone Tracking
The Rachel O’Reilly murder trial has focused attention on the use of mobile phone tracking. RTÉ’s This Week programme has a segment on the risks of tracking and data retention with contributions from the Data Protection Commissioner and DRI. …
A helpful ECHR decision for our data retention case – Copland v. UK
The European Court of Human rights gave a decision earlier this month in Copland v. UK which will be very helpful to us in arguing our data retention case. Ms. Copland worked in a Welsh college as a personal assistant, and discovered that the college …
Data Retention Case – Government still unwilling to put in their defence
A while ago we explained that the reason why you hadn’t heard more about the data retention case was that the State defendants were sitting on their hands and had failed to put in their defence as required by law. Our legal team brought them …
Labour Party Concerns About Data Retention
It’s been some time coming, but we’re glad to see the Labour Party shares our concern about data retention: The Labour Party Spokesperson on Justice, Deputy Brendan Howlin TD, has called for a review of the operation of powers given to the Gardai under the …
SkyCon talk – Sleepwalking into a Surveillance Society?
We were delighted to be invited to Limerick last weekend for the very enjoyable SkyCon where TJ gave a talk on whether we are “Sleepwalking into a Surveillance Society?” The talk got off to a promising start when we were met with this sign at …
Progress on the Data Retention Case
You might be wondering why you haven’t heard more about our case against the Government over data retention. This is because the defendants, despite being well out of time, have failed to put in their defence. In non-legal terms, this would be rather like a …
Terrorism no excuse to undermine privacy
Peter Hustinx, European Data Protection Supervisor: Terrorism and organised crime should not be used as excuses for passing laws which undermine people’s privacy and data protection rights … It is a misconception that protection of privacy and personal data holds back the fight against terrorism …