Europe should put privacy at centre of new laws

The European Data Protection Supervisor has adopted an opinion on the Stockholm programme - the European Commission's creepy-sounding "agenda for the future". The Stockholm programme is a outline of legislation planned for the next five years. It is due to be adopted by the European Council in December. EDPS said it was glad …

[Anonymous Coward]

Can it please include ...

... barring of any and all transfers of personal data by governments and corporations to the US(*) unless explicitly allowed by myself, the owner of said personal data.

Because I'm fed up with a government that was never elected (that's the US, in case you're a bit slow).

Give me Europe or give me Death.

* where "US" indicates physical, geographical, non-terrestrial, legal, military, technical, commercial, military and any other territories.

[Scott 19]

Response

Gov.UK response, fingers in ears saying LALA LA at the top of there voice, "we can't hear you ".

[Eponymous Cowherd]

Function Creep

***"It also called on the European Commission to reassert its basic data protection principles which should follow the "purpose limitation principle" - avoiding function creep."***

Where the UK has obvious "function creep"

NIR:- Will keep centralised full biometric profiles when local hashes are sufficient for ID confirmation.

ANPR:- Records time and location of 'legal' vehicles (i.e taxed, insured and not flagged as suspect).

DNA Database:- Stores profiles of people not convicted, or even charged, of any crime.

Centrepoint:- Records full details of all children *except* those "at risk". A complete inversion of its supposed purpose.

[AchimR]

Stasi 2.0 vs privacy protection?

How does this stand in contrast with the EU plans to spend around 100 million to build up a huge IT system gathering DNA of non-EU foreigners entering the EU and other invasive data to be collected?

Also with Germany's minister of the interieur, Wolfgang Schaeuble, also known as the person bringing Stasi 2.0 to Germany, being assigned to the EU as EU Commissar, I see low chances of any privacy protection schemes by the EU.

[Youvegottobe Joking]

Now if hewrup can force the UK gubmit to implement these laws we might be on to something

The UK has to be one of the worst offenders in Europe for personal data being held for too long or even being collected in the first place (like as earlier poster mentioned, DNA of people who were not convicted being stored). I was surprised to read that ANPR is being used to track everyone as well, but this site makes depressing reading:

http://www.openrightsgroup.org/orgwiki/index.php/National_Vehicle_Tracking_Database

Can the UK authorities be brought into line or will they will the wriggle off the hook again threatening to throw their toys out of the pram if they dont get their way.... time will tell

And it would be nice if the numpties who leave all our personal on trains and such get sacked and thrown in jail for gross negligence.

[copsewood]

function creep

Or the idea that data collected for one purpose can't be used for another. I'll be interested to see if what comes out of this process fills a gaping hole in the UK Data Protection Act, which makes the collector of personal information obtained for one purpose but supplied for another purpose guilty of a breach, while enabling the reuser of the same information for the new purpose able to claim they obtained it "in good faith" from the collector of it or some other dodgy intermediary. This hole enables someone to attempt to setup the 118800 mobile phone directory service from such dodgy sources claiming this use to be totally legal:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/12/connectivity_legal_threats/

[Anonymous Coward]

Federal Europe Dangers

I notice that as the EU wants to get into law enforcement, anti-terror coordination etc,. I notice that their method is to set the EU law at the extreme, maximize the penalties, minimize the protections. By being at the extreme they rise above the local laws and become the defacto law.

Assholes who cannot get their hateful laws past their own Parliaments (JS, WS etc.) do it through the EU instead. I notice that the EU is happy to go along with this, because it expands their role. UK and Biometric passports, UK and it's demands for data retention, etc. WS and his mass internet surveillance.

Look at the US to see the consequences for this, the Federal laws are stronger than the State laws, and the end result is a very large prison population and a broken society.

Core countries vote against the EU constitutions, UKIP rises and even very pro-EU people like me, want the EU to go f*ck off. I want the EU that brought us Schengen and the Euro and strengthened our rights, not this lot and their creepy 'balancing my rights'. i.e. making an excuse to take some rights away.

[Dazed and Confused]

Function creep

Isn't the whole of the EU an exercise in Function Creep.

I seem to remember that we voted to join the EEC, a free market club, then along comes function creep and we find we are a dominion of a federal super state.

Look if this bloke wants to do anything useful then how about he puts it in black and white that it is illegal for any company to spy on any citizens data for any commercial reasons. That way we will finally be safe against the likes of Phorm.

Getting the EU to limit the power of governments is just not likely to happen now is it.