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Deutsch: ENDitorial: EU-Entwurf zur Datenschutzverordnung – Französische Dat...

The French CNIL was one of the first national Data Protection Authority (DPA) to react to the publication, by the European Commission, of its Data Protection Framework Proposal on 25 January 2012.

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Deutsch: Irischer ISP setzt die persönlichen Daten seiner Kunden aufs Spiel

Personal data of more than 6 800 current and former customers of Eircom's (biggest Irish ISP) mobile divisions may be at risk after three unencrypted laptops have been stolen, two from the company offices in Parkwest Dublin during 28 December 2011 - 2 January 2012 and one from an employee's home on 19 December 2011.

Eircom stated that most of the data involved were personal data including name, address and telephone numbers, but in some cases passport, driving licence numbers or utility bills and fo

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Deutsch: Großbritannien: 3 Millionen Datensätze aus Polizeidatenbank abgefrag...

UK Privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch has recently revealed that almost 3 million Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks were carried out in England and Wales in 2011 by almost 4000 registered bodies.

The figures basically say that 1 in 17 Britons was checked and that a large number of organizations had access to the individuals' private data without the knowledge of the individuals in question.

Big Brother Watch said the figures were "a sad indictment of a country that has lost all sig

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Deutsch: ENDitorial: Erste EDRi-Stellungnahme zur Datenschutzverordnung

EDRi welcomes the European Commission's proposal for a new data protection Regulation. Europe needs a comprehensive reform in order to ensure the protection of its citizens' personal data and privacy, while enhancing legal certainty and competitiveness in a single digital market. Since the "inter-service" draft was leaked in December, there has been a significant lobbying effort by certain foreign governments and industries.

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Deutsch: Polizei setzt häufig Stille SMS zur Ortung Verdächtiger ein

One issue that came out during the 28th Chaos Communication Congress held in Berlin between 27 and 30 December 2011, was the use of the so called "Silent SMS" by the police in Germany to track down suspects.

The Silent SMS, also called Flash-SMS is a SMS allowing the user to send a message to another mobile phone without the knowledge of the recipient. "The message is rejected by the recipient mobile, and leaves no trace.

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Deutsch: Smart Metering: Forscher sehen Verletzung der Privatsphäre

Two German researchers presented a talk entitled "Smart Hacking for Privacy" at the 28th Chaos Computing Congress that took place between 27 and 30 December 2011, on the privacy implications of "smart" electricity meters. These devices, installed in homes, collect information to determine the power consumption.

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Deutsch: USA macht weiter Druck auf EU-Kommission und gegen die geplante Datens...

The US Department of Commerce has circulated a second informal note with comments on the proposals for a data protection regulation and a directive on data protection in the field of law enforcement.

Right at the end of the inter-service consultation process in the European Commission (the almost final step before a legislative proposal is launched), the United States Department of Commerce launched a significant lobbying campaign against the leaked draft proposal for a Data Protection Regulation. The campaign included high-level phone calls from senior figures in the US Department of Commerce to top level staff in the European Commission covering topics such as US business, multilateral and bilateral treaty organizations, PNR, national security, law enforcement, trade and innovation.