In keeping with the Council of Europe’s Data Protection Day it seems like a good time to mention the pending introduction of the next part of Data Retention laws in Ireland.
Over the past number of years the topic of data retention has received relatively little attention in the mainstream Irish Media. With some exceptions, such as Irish Times journalist Karlin Lillington who has written frequently on the details and implications of the then proposed, and now in place, data retention laws, it has failed to capture public attention. It was recently reported that the next phase of the data retention policy, covering the storage of email and internet usage by everyone in Ireland, was coming into force. With the rise of Internet usage in Ireland, it is surprising that this issue has not been questioned by the general public.
The data retention policy to date has focused on the storage of telephone data. Specifically, the call details of mobile phone users, including the numbers dialled, duration of calls, and the location of the person when they made the call. This information is stored of a period of up to 18 months. With the introduction of the next phase of the policy, Internet Storage Providers (ISPs) are required to store details such as websites visited, details of emails sent and received (although not their content), details of Instant Messaging, VOIP (Internet Telephony like Skype) usage . This policy stems from an EU Data Retention Directive, originally proposed by four Governments, including Ireland’s.
There seems to be little understanding of what is covered by the data retention legislation. Even in situations where people have experience with technology (for example, some of the discussions on boards.ie), there seems to be misunderstandings of what the implications are. It could perhaps be likened to having someone follow you around and note down the details of any conversation that you have. They may also take not of anything you watch on Television, any music you listen to, and anything you look at in a shop. Having someone follow you like that would be seen as an intrusion by most, so the question remains, while the methods of observation have changed, is the result not the same?
The arguments for the need for data retention, of what will be vast amounts of information, relate to the need to prevent terrorism ( although given that the political situation in the North of Ireland has changed a great deal in recent years, the timing could be seen as being somewhat late). It has however been questioned (for example, by Digital Rights Ireland) whether the need for the 3 year storage period is necessary or useful in detecting or preventing crime. It has also been pointed out (for example, in articles by Karlin Lillington), that the legislation was brought in with a lack of debate by the former Minister for Justice Michael McDowell.
It could be argued that such a policy does not affect you if you have done nothing wrong, only the criminals should be concerned. While this is possibly true, the numerous failures to protect the privacy of individuals by Public Offices (see, for example Articles tagged Privacy on the DRI Website) make this a difficult position to accept. There have in the past been situations where public sector staff have sold information held on individuals. In the UK a disk containing private details of 25 million citizens was recently lost. While in theory, it is possible to protect the information held on people using a mixture of physical, procedural and legal safeguards, past performance does not inspire confidence.
Time will tell how the challenges to the Data Retention laws will result. What does seem clear however is that the issue needs to be brought further into the public arena. By doing so people can give thought to what expectations of privacy they hold and how much information are people comfortable with the state holding about them?
Further Information on this area is available from:
- Articles tagged as Privacy on Karlin Lillington’s blog (The comments on the post relating to Jan. 19th‘s Irish Times article are an interesting read)
- Digital Rights Ireland
- The Irish Times (Subscription Required)
- My Del.icio.us Bookmarks with a privacy tag (http://del.icio.us/davkell/privacy)
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