Pointing to different persons on a website and making them recognisable by naming them or in any other manner is an act of processing of personal data and must therefore be dealt with under EU Directive 95/46/EC. That's the substance of a recent judgement of the European Court of Justice (reference number C-101/01; case Bodil Lindqvist). It is the first time this court has ruled on the scope of the data protection directive and freedom of movement for such data on the internet.
Back in 1998, the Swedish Mrs. Bodil Lindqvist had posted personal information, meant to be humorous, about herself and 18 of her colleagues at a local church. Among other things she mentioned that one of her colleagues had fallen off a ladder and broken her ankle. In 2001, she was convicted to pay approximately 500 Euro for an infringement of PUL, the Swedish Data Protection law. Mrs. Bodil complained with the Higher Court, the Göta Hovrätt. This court, located in the town of Jönköping in Central Sweden, said it would not decide before a verdict from the Strasbourg court on the question whether the PUL was in line with the Data Protection Directive. In the meantime, Mrs. Bodil got much support from the Union of Investigative Journalists and other activists who claimed her case was about freedom of speech. The EU Court of Justice now confirmed the ruling by the court of first instance on the basis of the PUL, making it more than likely that the Göta Hovrätt will rule likewise.
Judgement by EU Court of Justice (06.11.2003)
http://www.curia.eu.int/jurisp/cgi-bin/gettext.pl?lang=en&num=7996...()
Bodil Lindqvist's homepage (in Swedish)
http://biphome.spray.se/mors/
(Contribution by Andreas Dietl, EDRI EU affairs director)