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Deutsch: Treffen der ISPs heizt Debatte über niederländische Vorratsdatenspei...

Dutch government agencies held a meeting on 14 October 2009 with internet service providers, looking for ways to clarify the data retention obligations under the country's new Data Retention Act. After the meeting, ISPs still face uncertainty over how long to store data, who falls within the scope of the Act and how the authorities want the data to be stored or disclosed.

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In Austria the international data protection day on 28 January will pass by widely unrecognised. This year, as already in 2008, the Data Protection Commission (DSK; the Austrian Data Protection Authority) and the Data Protection Council (DSR; a political advisory board) will together organise a meeting for a strictly limited amount of interested persons (max. 100 participants) where they will present European and international developments in data protection. In contrary to 2008, where they were confronted with by far more than 100 registrations, the event was promoted very poorly.

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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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The Privacy Office of the U.S.

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On 11 November 2008, Peter Hustinx, the European Union's Data Protection Supervisor, gave some comments to the report published on 26 June 2008 by EU-US High Level Contact Group (HLCG) on information sharing between US-EU on privacy and personal data protection.

According to Hustinx, a greater sharing of personal data between the European Union and the US should be accompanied by guarantees that the individuals whose data are exchanged may examine the exchange process and correct eventual mistakes. He believes that US and EU should be allowed to share individual personal data in criminal cases, only if people can take the authorities to court when they are wronged.

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The first worldwide protests against surveillance measures such as the collection of all telecommunications data, the surveillance of air travellers and the biometric registration of citizens were held on 11 October 2008 under the motto "Freedom not Fear - Stop the surveillance mania!". In at least 15 countries citizens demanded a cutback on surveillance, a moratorium on new surveillance powers and an independent evaluation of existing surveillance powers.

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The European Council has started re-writing from scratch the European Commission's proposal for an EU-PNR scheme as a result of several EU governments' intention to go further in this matter.

Some European governments, with the UK in the lead, want to extend the PNR scheme used now under the US-EU agreement to all types of travel (air, land and sea), not only in and out the EU borders but between EU countries and even within each country.

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A new secret report, made available by Statewatch, drafted by the "Future Group" of Interior and Justice Ministers from six EU member states (Germany, France, Sweden, Portugal, Slovenia, and Czech Republic) suggests a series of proposals to boost EU integration in policing and intelligence-gathering, including the creation an EU-US Area of cooperation for "freedom, security and justice."

The group's controversial proposals are certain to trigger major disputes, proposing that the EU members states should pool information in a central intelligence unit, creating a network of "anti-terrorist centres", standardising police surveillance techniques and extending the sharing