EU justice ministers agree on police data-sharing law

European justice ministers on Friday reached an agreement on a new EU law governing how police agencies share information. The Data Protection Directive is supposed to protect personal data that is processed for “the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the safeguarding against and the …

[Your alien overlord - fear me]

It's not just data they should be debating. If I goto Amsterdam have have some cookies from certain coffee houses, that's perfectly legal. If I jump onto a train back to Britain, the cookies contents are still in my system and I could potentially be arrested because the cookies contents are illegal in Britain.

So am I a criminal because I did something legal in one EU country ?

And yes, I know I shhould just shtay in Amshterdam jusht a big longer :-)

[Mark 85]

Since what is in your system is the ultimate in personal data, who knows. but since it's "cookies" there might be some legal question as to intent and definition of said cookie. .

I'll use the joke icon since I'm pretty sure you were making one also.

[Anonymous Coward]

internal possession

It's my understanding that you can't be charged with possession of a drug just because it's present in your bloodstream. In a condom stuffed in a bodily orifice is probably a different matter.

[Ben Liddicott]

2014: Corruption across EU 'breathtaking' - EU Commission

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26014387

Ask yourself: Do you trust European police?

Do you trust Italian, Greek or Spanish police? Or Latvian? Or Bulgarian?

I have a hard enough time trusting our own police, and they are probably the best of the lot. The Dutch probably number two, then the French and Irish and dropping off rapidly thereafter.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: 2014: Corruption across EU 'breathtaking' - EU Commission

Ask yourself: Do you trust European police?

Not really. But I do actually trust the coordinating force, Europol, who somehow manage to work across all the current different data protection regimes and still get work done.

The irony is that there are already models and laws they could have based their work on for proper management of retained data, but that's where politics got in the way: not invented in an EEC country..