While the new German government has come out against indiscriminate data retention, the majority of EU governments have other goals. A diplomatic report to the German Foreign Office, published today by the news portal Netzpolitik.org, summarises the wishes and plans of EU governments on the issue of data retention. The EU Commission wants to take action following a pending decision by the European Court of Justice.

Member of the European Parliament, civil liberties activist and lawyer Dr Patrick Breyer (Pirate Party), who has filed a constitutional complaint against the German law on data retention, comments:

“Data retention is the first surveillance law directed against the entire population. This puts us on a slippery slope. The distinction between content and communications data has been blurred. We know today, according to the current state of research, that metadata allows for conclusions to be drawn that are at least as revealing as knowing the content of communications.

Unfortunately, the greatest consensus exists on mandating indiscriminate IP data retention, which the judges in Luxembourg recently green-lighted to under massive pressure. Under no circumstances should all internet users be placed under general suspicion and online anonymity be abolished! A general and indiscriminate retention of our identity on the Internet allows for creating comprehensive personality and movement profiles of practically every citizen. Incidentally, there is no evidence that IP data retention significantly increases the crime clearance rate. In the absence of data retention Germany today has a higher cybercrime clearance rate than with IP data retention in place in 2009.“

A parliamentary question had recently revealed that Germany fails to trace only 3% of NCMEC reports of alleged child pornography due to a lack of IP data retention. Previously, the German Working Group on Data Retention had stressed that IP retention was “completely unsuitable for protecting children”. In 2020 Germany was able to prosecute 91.3% of all child pornography cases – without mandatory IP data retention being in force.

[3]Background information on data retention

patrick-breyer.de/en/majority-…

Commissione parlamentare d’inchiesta sulla tutela dei consumatori e degli utenti Audizione del Presidente del Garante per la protezione dei dati personali (16 febbraio 2022) - IL VIDEO DELL'AUDIZIONE Ringrazio la Commissione per quest’invito al confr...

gpdp.it:443/web/guest/home/doc…

A draft EU Parliament report published today would ban anonymous payments and donations in cryptocurrencies.[1] The €1000 limit for anonymous transactions proposed by the EU Commission would be abolished. Only peer-to-peer payments between local wallets without the involvement of service providers would remain possible without identification.

For the Pirates in the EU Parliament, the stated aim to tackle money laundering and terrorism is only a pretext to gain more control over personal data of EU citizens.

Patrick Breyer, German Pirate MEP and member of the LIBE Committee, comments:

“Banning anonymous crypto currency payments altogether would not have any significant effect on crime, but would deprive law-abiding citizens of their financial freedom. For example, opposition figures like Alexei Nawalny are increasingly dependent on anonymous donations in virtual currencies. Banks have also cut off donations to Wikileaks in the past. With the creeping abolition of real and virtual cash, there is the threat of negative interest rates and the shutting off of the money supply at any time. We need to find ways to take the best features of cash into our digital future. We should have a right to be able to pay and donate online without our financial transactions being recorded in a personalised way. We Pirates will oppose these plans.”

Mikuláš Peksa, Czech MEP for the Pirate Party and member of the ECON Committee, comments:

“Wanting to ban anonymous digital payments in order to fight crime is short-sighted and may even further illegal activities. For criminals it is not difficult to switch to non-EU wallet services, which of course will not implement these rules. For innocent EU citizens, on the other hand, who are dependent on the protection of their anonymity on the internet, partly for professional or social reasons, it means risking the disclosure of their identity in the future. Once again, those who suffer the most from supposedly well-intentioned laws are those who are actually supposed to be protected by them. Moreover, the blockchain system used for money transfers with cryptocurrencies already makes it possible to detect unusual patterns and processes of organised crime.”

patrick-breyer.de/en/digital-c…

USA: un gruppo di parlamentari chiede alle agenzie federali di abbandonare i contratti di riconoscimento facciale con Clearview AI

Un gruppo di quattro parlamentari progressisti — Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA) e Jeff Merkley (D-OR) e Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) e Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) – ha inviato diverse lettere alle agenzie federali chiedendo la fine del’utilizzo del controverso sistema di riconoscimento facciale di Clearview AI. Il Pentagono e il Dipartimento di Giustizia hanno contratti attivi con la controversa compagnia.

theverge.com/2022/2/9/22925094…

TikTok e YouTube condivide i tuoi dati più di qualsiasi altra app di social media e non è chiaro dove, afferma uno studio

Secondo uno studio della società di mobile marketing URL Genius, YouTube e TikTok tengono traccia dei dati personali degli utenti più di qualsiasi altra app di social media. Il documento ha rilevato che YouTube raccoglie principalmente i dati personali per i propri scopi, come il monitoraggio della cronologia delle ricerche online o persino della tua posizione e offrirti annunci pertinenti. TikTok consente principalmente a tracker di terze parti di raccogliere i tuoi dati e da lì è difficile dire cosa accada.

cnbc.com/2022/02/08/tiktok-sha…

Israele: l’indagine rileva che la polizia israeliana ha utilizzato spyware nei confronti di tre persone

L’emittente israeliana Channel 12 ha affermato che in un’indagin, la polizia ha utilizzato lo spyware Pegasus prendendo di mira tre persone. Il primo ministro Bennett ha dichiarato: “Questo strumento e strumenti simili soni importanti nella lotta al terrorismo e alla criminalità grave. Ma non erano concepite per essere destinati al ‘phishing’ diffuso di cittadini israeliani o personaggi pubblici dello Stato di Israele, dobbiamo dunque capire esattamente cosa è successo”.

theguardian.com/world/2022/feb…

guidoscorza.it/privacy-daily-1…