Data Retention

[loner]

The Editorial in last Saturdays Irish Times indicates that the Govt . has introduced legislation to retain e-mail and internet data based on a contentious EU directive.It would seem that the Govt. has decided to implement the directiveby way of a Statutory Instrument which requires neither Dail or Seanad approval.It seems that the Govt has redefined "Serious Offences"in the SI to mean any offence carrying up to a 6 months sentence whereas the current legal definition is any crime with a minimum 5 year sentence. It is a very worrying development that a measure of this nature should be contemplated without recourse to primary legislation. Any views?.

[Aindriu]

Big Brother is alive and well and emigrating to Ireland so.

[sackville]

The Editorial in last Saturdays Irish Times indicates that the Govt . has introduced legislation to retain e-mail and internet data based on a contentious EU directive.It would seem that the Govt. has decided to implement the directiveby way of a Statutory Instrument which requires neither Dail or Seanad approval.It seems that the Govt has redefined "Serious Offences"in the SI to mean any offence carrying up to a 6 months sentence whereas the current legal definition is any crime with a minimum 5 year sentence. It is a very worrying development that a measure of this nature should be contemplated without recourse to primary legislation. Any views?.

why doesn't the idea of an EU directive having primacy over Dail or Seanad come as a surprise.

This subsidiarity was only ever spin, it's more and more about bottom-down power and this only serves to demonstrate that accountably is not what this sham is about.

[corelli]

As far as I am aware a group called Digital Rights Ireland are challenging the implementation of the directive and launched the challenge before the latest SI's were introduced but they were introduced anyway. The Human Rights Commission have been joined to the proceedings as Amicus Curiae (friend of the court). The State are challenging whether Digital Rights Ireland have locus to bring the proceedings and I am not aware has that been settled yet.

Just though some may be intersted.

[sackville]

As far as I am aware a group called Digital Rights Ireland are challenging the implementation of the directive and launched the challenge before the latest SI's were introduced but they were introduced anyway. The Human Rights Commission have been joined to the proceedings as Amicus Curiae (friend of the court). The State are challenging whether Digital Rights Ireland have locus to bring the proceedings and I am not aware has that been settled yet.

Just though some may be intersted.

http://www.digitalrights.ie/

[Sligoboy]

This thread should be renamed Anal retention.

[Aindriu]

This thread should be renamed Anal retention.

That's a bit Freudian for a Tuesday

[Gimpanzee]

The directive means that data about emails and sms messages are held for a given period by the service provider (which happens already, and possibly even to a greater extent than in the legislation, for no good reason other than thats the way databases tend to be managed everywhere). Who emailed/texted who and when will be recorded, not what was in the email or the text message. It is no big deal.

[seabhcan]

This is a really stupid law. My internet provider does not have copies of my e-mail to retain, as I use a web-based e-mail server in another country.

[ibis]

The Editorial in last Saturdays Irish Times indicates that the Govt . has introduced legislation to retain e-mail and internet data based on a contentious EU directive. It would seem that the Govt. has decided to implement the directiveby way of a Statutory Instrument which requires neither Dail or Seanad approval.It seems that the Govt has redefined "Serious Offences"in the SI to mean any offence carrying up to a 6 months sentence whereas the current legal definition is any crime with a minimum 5 year sentence. It is a very worrying development that a measure of this nature should be contemplated without recourse to primary legislation. Any views?.

why doesn't the idea of an EU directive having primacy over Dail or Seanad come as a surprise.

This subsidiarity was only ever spin, it's more and more about bottom-down power and this only serves to demonstrate that accountably is not what this sham is about.

Sackville, that was pathetic, unless you're claiming illiteracy. Also, the government pushed for this Directive, and is taking the EU to court because it doesn't feel the Directive goes far enough.