The Committee of Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs at the European Parliament debated the draft Regulation on the establishment, operation and use of the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II).

There was a consensus among members of the committee that better privacy safeguards are needed for the SIS II, especially because it will contain sensitive biometric data. Now the questions are related to the usage of the biometric data as a search criterion by the law enforcement authorities. However, representatives of the European Commission called the option of using these data as a basis for searches "indispensable."

The draft report on the proposal for the Regulation from the MEP Carlos Coelho (PPE - Portugal) highlights that "a 'bigger system' requires 'bigger

“Arming Big Brother”, a new report by Transnational Institute (TNI) and Statewatch, reveals the army industry lobbying has led to creating a new European security-industrial complex. According to this report, EU is preparing to spend to €1 billion per year on new "research" into surveillance and control technologies.

Following the demands made in 2003 by the GoP (Group of Personalities) including EU officials and Europe’s largest IT and arms companies arguing Europe multinationals needed a billion euros per year to compete with US multinationals and Government, the European Commission appointed a European Security Research Advisory Board to develop and implement the future European Security Research Programme (ESRP).

Ben Hayes, the author of the report stated “The ESRP is completely

European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) 2005 annual report was presented on the 19 April . As stated by the report, following the first year of setting up the new independent authority on protecting personal data and privacy, 2005 was a year of consolidation confirming its main activities: supervision, consultation and cooperation. The authority increased its staff and set up its own press service.

Peter Hustinx, the European Data Protection Supervisor, stated that EDPS is now advising the European Commission, Council and Parliament on proposals of new legislation affecting privacy and six formal opinions were published last year in this context. Related mainly to the policy area "Justice, Freedom and Security", these opinions included proposals such as the highly controversial one on data retention, but also for large scale IT-systems

Teachers protest against the installation of 50 CCTV systems with microphones in UK schools, used as surveillance measures by the school management.

While observation in class was supposed to help teachers in improving their performances, the headmasters, who have also used two-way mirrors to survey the teachers, grade them according to the way they perform in class under observation.

TES (The Times Educational Supplement) reported on 7 April that teachers were being "observed to death" and that surveillance was being used more like a punishment. Observed lessons are often graded on a scale of outstanding to poor.

The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), the largest teachers' union in UK, has proposed a conference motion to use "all means necessary" to stop the "yet another example of management

Lie detectors will be used in Russian airports as part of the security measures starting with July 2006.

Meant to identify terrorists or other types of criminals, a lie-detecting device developed in Israel, known as "truth verifier," will be first introduced in Moscow's Domodedovo airport as early as July. The technology, already used by UK insurance companies, is said to be able to detect answers coming from imagination or memory.

The passengers will use a handset to answer four questions right after the X-ray check of luggage and shoes and in the beginning, only the suspicious passengers will take the test. Those failing the test will be further on interrogated in a separate cubicle as Vladimir Kornilov, the IT director for East Line, said.

Eventually the procedure will be used for all passengers. Officials state

The proposed changes of Slovenian Intelligence Agency Act (ZSOVA) raised questions about its unconstitutionality. The government would like to exclude the current 6-month limitation for use of special operative methods, e.g. mail monitoring, recording of telephone conversations etc. The Government invoked cooperation with EU and NATO in the fight against terrorism as the reason for the proposed changes.

There are two main changes being proposed. According to the first one, the competence to ordain measures that invade individual's information privacy would be transferred from the president of Ljubljana Circuit Court to the president of the Slovenian Supreme Court. Legal experts find this solution better, but still not optimal, as the decision-making is still in the hands of one single person. A panel of 3 Supreme Court judges would be a better

Unites States has indicated in a recent meeting with the EU Council that it will be interested in accessing the traffic data collected by the European countries according with the recent Directive on Data Retention. Also the US officials expressed concerns over the draft Framework Decision on Data Protection.

During the EU-US informal High Level meeting on Freedom, Security and Justice on 2-3 March 2006, in Vienna, the US officials mentioned in the context of fighting terrorist use of Internet that they were "considering approaching each Member State to ensure that the data collected on the basis of the recently adopted Directive on data retention be accessible to them." The Presidency and the Commission replied that these data were accessible like any other data on the basis of the existing MLA agreements (bilateral

Article 29 Data Protection Working Party has adopted its opinion on data retention directive as adopted by the Council on 21 February 2006, pointing out major criticism to the adoption and to the present text agreed by the Parliament.

The Working Party recalls its previous concerns and reservations expressed in its last Opinion 113 of 21 October 2005 on the then draft Directive. The decision to retain communication data for the purpose of combating serious crime was considered as an unprecedented one that may endanger the fundamental values and freedoms all European citizens.

The privacy experts consider of utmost importance that the Directive is implemented and accompanied in each Member State by measures protecting privacy. The Directive leaves room for interpretation and therefore adequate