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Europe Passes Snoop Measure
12:26 p.m. May 30, 2002 PDT
The European Parliament passed a controversial measure Thursday that would allow countries to force telecommunication companies to keep detailed records of customers' data for snooping purposes.
The Parliament passed the Communications Data Protection Directive, 351 to 133, despite an aggressive campaign by civil liberties groups who say the measure would enable police to spy on citizens.
Parliament members who voted for the directive say police need to access transmission data for e-mail, phone calls, Internet use, faxes, and pager messages to deter terrorist attacks. The directive would permit authorities to direct telecom companies to store such data for indefinite time periods.
The directive now faces approval by the 15 European Union member countries. Civil liberty groups have vowed to continue fighting it at a national level.
But it is unclear how the directive would be enacted in countries such as Spain, where its constitution guarantees "secrecy" of private communications and police must obtain a court order to access such data, Socialist Senator Félix Lavilla Martínez said.
If the directive is endorsed by the Spanish Parliament, the "Spanish socialists will make an effort to maximize the constitutional guarantees," he added.
Generally, European law takes precedence in cases where a directive conflicts with national laws, even if it means revising a country's constitution, said Cedric Laurant, a Belgian attorney and policy analyst at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).
The legislation was watered down somewhat at the last minute by the inclusion of text indicating that data retention must constitute a "necessary, appropriate and proportionate measure within a democratic society to safeguard national security" and that it must be done in accordance with the tenets of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
Nevertheless, one member of parliament issued a harsh statement following the directive's approval Thursday:
"With the vote of today, the directive on privacy in electronic communications can be correctly defined as the directive of data retention and hyper-regulation of the Internet," Italian legislator Marco Cappato said in a statement. An amendment introduced by Cappato to delete the data retention clause from the directive, which is part of a larger telecommunications law, was voted down on Thursday.
It often takes up to five years for member countries to implement directives.
12:26 p.m. May 30, 2002 PDT
The European Parliament passed a controversial measure Thursday that would allow countries to force telecommunication companies to keep detailed records of customers' data for snooping purposes.
The Parliament passed the Communications Data Protection Directive, 351 to 133, despite an aggressive campaign by civil liberties groups who say the measure would enable police to spy on citizens.
Parliament members who voted for the directive say police need to access transmission data for e-mail, phone calls, Internet use, faxes, and pager messages to deter terrorist attacks. The directive would permit authorities to direct telecom companies to store such data for indefinite time periods.
The directive now faces approval by the 15 European Union member countries. Civil liberty groups have vowed to continue fighting it at a national level.
But it is unclear how the directive would be enacted in countries such as Spain, where its constitution guarantees "secrecy" of private communications and police must obtain a court order to access such data, Socialist Senator Félix Lavilla Martínez said.
If the directive is endorsed by the Spanish Parliament, the "Spanish socialists will make an effort to maximize the constitutional guarantees," he added.
Generally, European law takes precedence in cases where a directive conflicts with national laws, even if it means revising a country's constitution, said Cedric Laurant, a Belgian attorney and policy analyst at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).
The legislation was watered down somewhat at the last minute by the inclusion of text indicating that data retention must constitute a "necessary, appropriate and proportionate measure within a democratic society to safeguard national security" and that it must be done in accordance with the tenets of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
Nevertheless, one member of parliament issued a harsh statement following the directive's approval Thursday:
"With the vote of today, the directive on privacy in electronic communications can be correctly defined as the directive of data retention and hyper-regulation of the Internet," Italian legislator Marco Cappato said in a statement. An amendment introduced by Cappato to delete the data retention clause from the directive, which is part of a larger telecommunications law, was voted down on Thursday.
It often takes up to five years for member countries to implement directives.