Blog | Mass surveillance
Garda who abused phone records to spy on ex will not be prosecuted, will keep job
Recent media reports have confirmed that a Garda detective sergeant will not face criminal prosecution and will keep her job despite abusing the data retention system to spy on an ex-boyfriend. In November 2010 the annual report of the judge who oversees the data retention …
Judge’s report reveals allegations that Garda used phone records to spy on her ex
Mark Tighe has an important story in today’s Sunday Times about apparent abuse by a garda of the data retention system. Unfortunately it’s behind a paywall, but I’ve taken the liberty of scanning the hardcopy and placing it here as it raises a number of …
Leaked report on Data Retention Directive shows fundamental flaws
Under Article 14 of the Data Retention Directive the Commission must produce a public evaluation of the application of the Directive before 15 September 2010. A draft version of that document has now been leaked (along with the Irish Government’s submission) and makes for very …
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 …
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 …
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 …
More thoughts on the Data Retention Bill
Daithi MacSithigh has put together a summary of problems with the Bill – cross posted here with his permission: The Minister for Justice in Ireland published the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill last week: it was made available on the Oireachtas website (and brought to …
“If you’ve nothing to hide, you’ve nothing to fear”
Speaking on the Last Word with Matt Cooper earlier today FF TD Niall Collins trotted out that old canard – “if you’ve nothing to hide, you’ve nothing to fear” – in relation to the new data retention bill. Curiously, when asked if he’d be happy …
German court rules that data retention “violates fundamental right to privacy”
Good news from our friends in the German Working Group against Data Retention: As the first German court, the Administrative Court of Wiesbaden has found the blanket recording of the entire population’s telephone, mobile phone, e-mail and Internet usage (known as data retention) disproportionate. The …