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The European Union’s top court scrapped legislation allowing the indiscriminate collection of internet and phone communication data for law-enforcement purposes yesterday.
The European Court of Justice ruled that the data retention directive offered too few safeguards to protect people from authorities’ snooping and created an impression that “private lives are the subject of constant surveillance.”
EU governments will now have to draft new legislation on data scrutiny.
“Data retention for the purpose of investigating serious crimes is necessary and that remains the case,” German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere insisted after the ruling.
The 2006 legislation required telecoms firms to store phone calls or online communication records for up to two years.
The Luxembourg-based court ruled the legislation provided “very precise information on private lives” that represented a “particularly serious interference with fundamental rights.”
Green MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht called the ruling “a major victory for civil rights in Europe.”