Look who's fallen foul of Europe's data retention rules. France and Germany

On Tuesday, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued rulings that limit indiscriminate data retention in France and Germany. The French case involves two suspects, VD and SR, accused of insider dealing, corruption, and money laundering, who challenged the legal basis cited by the French Financial Markets Authority (Autorité …

[Anonymous Coward]

"ignores the possibility of oppressive regimes coming to power"

I believe they will happily ignore any rule but their own then...

And on the jokes side, let's note that a EU court based in a country noteworthy for being a tax haven and home of easy registration of many shady companies rules against investigations in shady businesses <G>.

I'm all for restricting data gathering and retention - laws should also forbid the very kind of business practices Luxembourg (and other countries) allows to help criminals hide their tracks.

[MJB7]

Re: "ignores the possibility of oppressive regimes coming to power"

Germany has a history here (which is why there are quite so many privacy advocates in Germany). Religious affiliation has often been a question on censuses - and the German citizens of Weimar Germany dutifully filled out the question. Those that put "Jüdisch" had a problem a few years later.

On Luxembourg: The ECJ has one justice per member state, so almost all of them are not from Luxembourg.

[Justthefacts]

Re: "ignores the possibility of oppressive regimes coming to power

Luxembourg is a state of mind, not where you were born. The ECJ self-selects for Luxembourgish viewpoint. All ECJ Justices *trained* in Luxembourg, and their speciality is Luxembourgish law. Their entire careers chased promotions that depend on them prioritising EU-centralising “law” over national interests. Very few of the Romans ever saw Rome itself. But they all knew they were Romans. An Empire State of Mind.

https://youtu.be/vk6014HuxcE

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "ignores the possibility of oppressive regimes coming to power"

I was stating it was a joke - still this is a real issue. I'm with the EU Court in this case, but there is a lot else that should get their attention - states helping laundering money and hide criminal businesses - plus tax evasion - are an issue too. Investigations would need far less data gathering if there was the proper transparency in such matters - transparency that does exist in other countries that are not authoritarians ones.

Countries like Luxembourg have a disproportionate power in EU and are very careful to keep their advantages alive - politicians and other wealthy people - including judges - need too a place to safely store and hide money.

Moreover that is helping populist movements in many EU countries to attack EU as the mother of all evils - and probably they have an anonymous company in Luxembourg too...

[Anonymous Coward]

.....and let's not forget FB......

Link: https://theintercept.com/2022/09/07/facebook-personal-data-no-accountability/

......where "veteran...engineers" don't even know anything about the design or location of THE DATA FB ACTUALLY keeps!!

So.......if FB had to delete data after, say, a year.......................they couldn't do it!!!

Wonderful!!!

[Thicko]

Re: .....and let's not forget FB......

Fascinating article. Thanks!

[sreynolds]

So basically...

Essential to the police and prosecutors do your jobs. The old fashioned techniques work quite as well. I mean sure there are no more phone books to hide the brusing but come on improvise. Stairs are dangerous places.

[Woodnag]

Re: So basically...

...when the state has in depth data on everyone, every prosecution becomes a selective one. And deterring political activists becomes very easy.

[steelpillow]

Funny how at the same time

they were screaming abuse at UK Gov because our equally beloved politicans wanted to do the same, just make it legal.

[VoiceOfTruth]

And the UK?

-> Putting everyone under blanket surveillance and violating their fundamental right to privacy, he argues, is simply not proportional to the need to combat crime.

It is time that the EU declared the UK to be the rogue state that it is, and kick it into the dustbin of history.

[Potemkine!]

RGPD allows data retention for a period that can be justified by the goal of that retention. What is this duration isn't listed (and that's logical, RGPD cannot be exhaustive) so courts must decide if the data retention is OK or not. Inthat case, ECJ decided it wasn't.

It's good to see that States are subjected to the decisions of the independent ECJ. It shows the EU works like a true democracy.

It may be time to expel Hungary from the EU by the way.

== Bring us Dabbsy back! ==

[Shalghar]

"It shows the EU works like a true democracy."

The EU is not and was never anything democratic. If it were, the summer and wintertime foolishness would already have been ended. Another proof of this is the non existant "powers" of the not really directly elected parliament and the overpowering influence of the not at all elected EU commission.

That some judges are sometimes able to make a correct decision is unquestioned, same with the effort of german government to tear down the pseudo protection of work time law a few years ago that was also prohibited in EU court.

A few judiciary positive events dont make anything democratic.