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The year 2008 did not improve the course of privacy and data protection in the Netherlands. The public debate focused on data collection systems related to fundamental aspects of Dutch citizens' lives, such as communications, health and movement. Unfortunately, there are no signs that concerns or incidental public outcry over privacy will lead to significant improvements to the design of the systems or reconsideration of their goals, merit and impact on society.

After years of negotiations, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) approved the data protection guarantees in the smart card system for the public transport sector.

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Civil liberties groups La Quadrature du Net, European Digital Rights (EDRi), AK Vorrat, and Netzpolitik.org are urging the European Parliament to heed advice given by the European Data Protection Supervisor Peter Hustinx and scrap plans dubbed "voluntary data retention".

"A proposal currently discussed in the European Parliament as part of the 'telecom package' would allow providers to collect a potentially unlimited amount of sensitive, confidential communications data including our telephone and e-mail contacts, the geographic position of our mobile phones and the websites we visit on the Internet", warns Patrick Breyer of German privacy watchdog AK Vorrat.

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Earlier this year, in April, the Government of Finland presented a bill to the Parliament for an amendment to the Act on Data Protection of Electronic Communications. Raison d'être for the bill officially is that it would allow employers to investigate the log data of employees' e-mails, if the company has reason to suspect that corporate secrets are leaking out of the company or that the employer's communication networks are being misused. The employer would not be allowed to read the content of the messages themselves, however.

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On 11 December 2008, the Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) annulled article 5 of the national legislation that implements the Data retention Directive, following a lawsuit initiated by Access to Information Program(AIP).

Article 5 of the Bulgarian Regulation # 40 that was issued by the State Agency on Information Technologies and Communication and the Ministry of Interior provided for a "passive access through a computer terminal" by the Ministry of Interior, as well as access without court permission by security services and other law enforcement bodies, to all retained data by Internet and mobile communication providers.

A five-member panel of the SAC a

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Following the adoption of the draft law on data retention by the Chamber of Deputies on 4 November 2008, the Romanian President made the final step in adopting the law on 17 November.

From now on, it is just a matter of time until the law will be published in the Official Journal and until its entry into force (60 days from its publication date). The Internet-related data will be kept only starting with 15 March 2009.

The lack of any relevant debates from both chambers of the Parliament or its commissions was not surprising.

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In a letter to EU Commissioner Viviane Reding published on 28 October 2008, 11 German organisations are criticising a European Parliament move that would allow telcommunications providers to collect traffic data for "security purposes".

The civil liberties, journalists, lawyers and consumer protection organisations are warning in the letter that the European Parliament's vote on the telecom package of 24 September contains a "blank cheque" for the collection of more traffic data than is currently being collected even under the directive on data retention, without setting a time limit.

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New disclosures from researchers and electronic surveillance experts in an effort to explain the real impacts and implications of the FRA law.

The Swedish Parliament passed controversial legislation last June, the so called FRA law. It seems that the MPs didn't realise what they were voting for when they voted the FRA law. The FRA law is one in a line of laws calling for mass surveillance of ordinary people. It gives the Swedish signal intelligence agency, FRA, (the National Defence Radio Establishment) the right to eavesdrop on all civilian Internet, telephone and fax traffic and keep tabs on the social networks of innocent citizens.

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On 11 October 2008 Prague hosted the DIY Carnival which marched through the city centre in the name of the worldwide initiative "Freedom not Fear".

Starting with a concert of several music groups on the river island Stvanice, more than 1000 people wearing masks outnumbered crowds of tourists on the fancy streets of the Old Town and protested against increasing surveillance within the society.