Press release 28 June 2010
For immediate release
Two of Ireland’s leading rights watchdogs, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) and Digital Rights Ireland have joined calls from a network of European experts for an end to compulsory telecommunications data retention.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organisations from 23 European countries have asked EU Commissioners Malmström, Reding and Kroes to propose the repeal of the EU data retention directive in favour of a system of expedited preservation and targeted collection of traffic data. Among the signatories are civil liberties and digital rights associations as well as crisis line operators, professional associations of journalists, lawyers and doctors, trade unions, consumer organisations and technology industry associations.
The EU Data Retention Directive, adopted in 2006, currently forces phone and Internet companies to indiscriminately collect data about all of their customers’ communications and movements. This indiscriminate monitoring puts confidential activity and contacts, for example with journalists, crisis lines and business partners, at risk of disclosure by way of data leaks and abuses. It also acts as a deterrent to whistleblowers or others reporting wrongdoing. According to the NGOs: “Blanket data retention has proven to be superfluous, harmful or even unconstitutional in many states across Europe.”
According to Mr TJ McIntyre of Digital Rights Ireland:
“An overwhelming number of civil society groups and NGOs across Europe have agreed that the blanket surveillance introduced in 2006 is ineffective and unacceptable. Data retention laws have already been found to be unconstitutional in Germany, Bulgaria and Romania, and an Irish constitutional challenge before the High Court has recently been allowed to proceed, with the judge noting that the case was one ‘of significant public importance’. Instead of warrantless surveillance of the entire population the law must be changed to limit monitoring to individual, targeted cases where there is a particular reason for suspicion and where a warrant is granted.”
Mr Mark Kelly, Director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties added that:
“People should be aware that compulsory data retention involves ongoing monitoring of their use of telecoms technology and the use of pre-emptive surveillance. The ICCL is concerned that the Data Retention Directive and measures designed to implement it in Ireland fail to properly respect the privacy rights set out in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.”
ENDS/
TJ McIntyre is available for comment. For more information please contact:
Walter Jayawardene
Campaigns & Communications Officer
Irish Council for Civil Liberties
9-13 Blackhall Place
Dublin 7
Ireland
Tel. + 353 1 799 4503
Mob: +353 87 9981574
Fax. + 353 1 799 4512
E-mail walter.jayawardene@iccl.ie
Web www.iccl.ie
Notes to editor:
• The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) is Ireland’s leading independent human rights watchdog, which monitors, educates and campaigns in order to secure full enjoyment of human rights for everyone – www.iccl.ie.
• Digital Rights Ireland is a body devoted to defending Civil, Human and Legal rights in a digital age – www.digitalrights.ie.
• A copy of the letter, and a list of signatories, can be viewed on the website of the German Working Group on Data Retention at: http://www.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/content/view/363/158/lang,en/