Blog | DRI
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 …
Fine Gael Concerns about Phone Tapping
The Irish Independent reports that Fine Gael share our concern about accountability in the phone tapping system: JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell yesterday refused to reveal the number of phones taps he has authorised during his time in office. Although bugged phone conversations cannot be used …
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 …
Media Roundup
DRI was mentioned last week in the Examiner (Conor Ryan – Garda gear up to tackle crime with car cameras) and the BBC News Site (Jane Wakefield – Confusion over ‘data snooping’ laws). Also, TJ spoke on Dave Fanning’s Drivetime show last night. (Program available …
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 …
European Data Protection Day – Protect your privacy online and off
EUROPEAN DATA PROTECTION DAY – PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY ONLINE AND OFF European Data Protection Day takes place on Sunday 28th January. Irish civil rights group Digital Rights Ireland (DRI) has put together a list of things you can do to protect your privacy. DRI Chairman …
European Data Protection Day next Sunday – 5 Ways to Protect Your Privacy
Next Sunday, the 28th of January, is the inaugural Council of Europe Data Protection day. Our view is Data privacy is something for every individual to look after. Private companies, government, hospitals, all store information on you. You are entitled to view that information if …
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 …
ICEL Conference on Privacy and the ECHR
The Irish Centre for European Law are holding a conference on “Privacy: Developments in the European Court of Human Rights” on Wed. 13th December. They’ve secured a superb line up of speakers: Professor William Binchy, T.C.D. (Chair Panel I) Gavin Millar Q.C., Doughty Street Chambers, …
Digital Rights Ireland podcast as Gaeilge with Conn Ó Muíneacháin
Digital Rights Ireland’s Antóin Ó Lachtnáin recently did a podcast interview in Irish with Conn Ó Muíneacháin, Irish podcaster from An Líonra Sóisialta and blogger from An tImeall. You can listen to it in full on the An Líonra Sóisialta website, or download it here. …
E-passport at risk of being targetted by terrorists.
Digital Rights Ireland director, Antoin O’Lachtnain, in an interview with Mark Tighe of the Sunday Times today, gave an insight into the possibilities of Ireland’s new electronic passport being targetted by criminals. The lack of security measures, protecting the passport from being “skimmed”, are a …
New Irish Passports have RFID chip
Despite the recent press attention to the launch of ‘biometric’ passports, not many reporters have focused on the fact that these new passports seem to include Radio Frequency ID (RFID) chips. From the Department of Foreign Affairs website (link) “The chip technology allows the information …