The European Union wants that internet traffic, phone calls and generally every form of electronic communication data (e.g. Skype) is logged and kept for 2 years. The logged data has to contain personal information to identify the user and location information such as time, date, place, length of the phone call/internet connection, the text/MMS/email-message itself.
The whole idea is to use this data to stop terrorism and crime but I don’t see how tracking the surfing behavior or a few million innocent people is going to make it any easier in finding that needle in the haystack. Not only is this a huge invasion of each and every civilian’s privacy, it’s also going to cost a lot to set up. In the end it’s the customer of the ISP’s and phone companies that’s going to end up paying for this, as if Belgium isn’t already expensive enough when it comes down to that.
Having this information spread out of a few thousand databases is also prone to abuse or hacking. Think of what spammers could do with this kind of information, or even marketeers. They’d love to get their hands on that kind of information I’m sure.
So if you too feel like this should be put to and end, get over to bewaarjeprivacy.be and sign the petition.
4 replies on “help stop the Belgian data retention rule”
I think it’s only meant for Belgians as it is. You can select French but that’s for the French speaking part.
Under the links section there’s a link to a German site as well. Maybe there’s a petition there as well for Germany.
It all depends on how far the bill is in your country. I noticed when searching Google for similar petitions in other countries, Belgium is a bit late to adopt this one, as usual. In this case I can’t say I mind. Some countries have adopted it already (or partially) while in others it’s also a running process.
I think it’s only meant for Belgians as it is. You can select French but that’s for the French speaking part.
Under the links section there’s a link to a German site as well. Maybe there’s a petition there as well for Germany.
It all depends on how far the bill is in your country. I noticed when searching Google for similar petitions in other countries, Belgium is a bit late to adopt this one, as usual. In this case I can’t say I mind. Some countries have adopted it already (or partially) while in others it’s also a running process.
Where do I click for German or English instructions?