DRletter

Aus Freiheit statt Angst!

Version vom 07:23, 9. Jun. 2010

Recipients

1. Cecilia Malmström, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, BE-1049 Brussels, Belgium
2. Viviane Reding, European Commission Vice-President with responsibility for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, BE-1049 Brussels, Belgium
3. Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice-President with responsibility for the Digital Agenda

Draft text

Dear Commissioners,

The EU data retention directive 2006/24 requires telecommunications companies to store data about all of their customers' communications. Although ostensibly to reduce barriers to the single market, the Directive was proposed as a measure aimed at facilitating criminal investigations. The Directive creates a process for recording details of who communicated with whom via various electronic communications systems. In the case of mobile phone calls and SMS messages, the respective location of the users is also recorded. In combination with other data, Internet usage is also to be made traceable.

We believe that such invasive surveillance of the entire population is unacceptable. With a data retention regime in place, sensitive information about social contacts (including business contacts), movements and the private lives (e.g. contacts with physicians, lawyers, workers councils, psychologists, helplines, etc) of 500 million Europeans is collected in the absence of any suspicion. Telecommunications data retention undermines professional confidentiality, creating the permanent risk of data losses and data abuses and deters citizens from making confidential communications via electronic communication networks. It undermines the protection of journalistic sources and thus compromises the freedom of the press. Overall it damages preconditions of our open and democratic society. In the absence of a financial compensation scheme in most countries, the enormous costs of a telecommunications data retention regime must be borne by the thousands of affected telecommunications providers. This leads to price increases as well as the discontinuation of services, and indirectly burdens consumers.

Studies prove that the communications data available without data retention are generally sufficient for effective criminal investigations. Blanket data retention has proven to be superfluous, harmful or even unconstitutional in many states across Europe, such as Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Romania and Sweden. These states prosecute crime just as effectively using targeted instruments, such as the data preservation regime agreed in the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime. There is no proof that telecommunications data retention provides for better protection against crime. On the other hand, we can see that it costs billions of euros, puts the privacy of innocent people at risk, disrupts confidential communications and paves the way for an ever-increasing mass accumulation of information about the entire population.

Legal experts expect the European Court of Justice to follow the Constitutional Court of Romania as well as the European Court of Human Rights's Marper judgement and declare the retention of telecommunications data in the absence of any suspicion incompatible with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

As representatives of the citizens, the media, professionals and industry we collectively reject the Directive on telecommunications data retention. We urge you to propose the repeal of the EU requirements regarding data retention in favour of a system of expedited preservation and targeted collection of traffic data as agreed in the Council of Europe's Convention on Cybercrime. In doing so, please be assured of our support.

Yours faithfully,

Signatories (name, organisation, country)

• Gergana Jouleva for the Access to Information Programme, Bulgaria
• Terri Dowty for Action on Rights for Children, UK
• Rainer Hammerschmidt for Aktion Freiheit statt Angst e.V., Germany
• David Banisar for ARTICLE 19: Global Campaign for Free Expression, UK
• Alen Nanov for the Association for Advising, Treatment, Resocialization and Reintegration of Drug Users and Other Marginalized and Vulnerable Groups IZBOR, Macedonia
• Ot van Daalen for Bits of Freedom, The Netherlands
• Marina Jelic for Center for Peace and Democracy Development CPDD, Serbia
• Sabiha Husic for Citizens' Association Medica Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Christian Jeitler for Cyber Liberties Union, Austria
• Stefanie Severin for DFJV Deutscher Fachjournalisten-Verband AG, Germany
• Benno H. Pöppelmann for Deutscher Journalisten-Verband, Germany
• TJ McIntyre for Digital Rights Ireland, Ireland
• Thomas Gramstad for Electronic Frontier Norway, Norway
• Máté Dániel Szabó for Eötvös Károly Institute, Hungary
• Anne Margrethe Lund, European Movement in Norway, Norway
• Simona Conservas for exgae, Spain
• padeluun for FoeBuD e.V., Germany
• Beate Ziegler for Forum Menschenrechte, Germany
• Ross Anderson for FIPR Foundation for Information Policy Research, UK
• Lutz Donnerhacke for FITUG e.V., Germany
• Jürgen Wahlmann for GameParents.de e.V., Germany
• Dr. Balázs Dénes for the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, Hungary
• Veni Markovski for the Internet Society, Bulgaria
• Marcin Cieślak for the Internet Society Poland
• Mark Kelly for the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Ireland
• Elke Steven for the Komitee für Grundrechte und Demokratie, Germany
• Jérémie Zimmermann for La Quadrature du Net, France
• Klaus Jetz for Lesben- und Schwulenverband LSVD, Germany
• Manuel Lambert for Ligue des droits de l’Homme (Human Rights League), Belgium
• Bardhyl Jashari for Metamorphosis Foundation, Macedonia
• Christian Bahls for MOGiS e.V., Germany
• Phil Booth for NO2ID, UK
• Jim Killock for Open Rights Group, UK
• Katarzyna Szymielewicz for Panoptykon Foundation, Poland
• Mag. Georg Markus Kainz for q/uintessenz, Austria
• Carsten Gericke for Republikanischer Anwältinnen- und Anwälteverein e.V., Germany
• Walter van Holst for ScriptumLibre Foundation/Stichting Vrijschrift.org, Netherlands
• Tony Bunyan for Statewatch, UK
• Lars-Henrik Paarup Michelsen, Stopp Datalagringsdirektivet, Norway
• Karin Ajaxon for the Julia Group, Sweden
• Tale Marte Dæhlen, Ungdom mot EU, Norway
• Prof. Dr. Wulf Dietrich for Verein demokratischer Ärztinnen und Ärzte, Germany
• Daniel Jahre for Verein Linuxwochen, Austria

Background

More information on data retention