[pp.int.general] Data retention Law in Bulgaria

[Ole Husgaard]

Bogomil Shopov skrev:
> 1. The Ministry of Interior will have access through a direct interface to
> the data for the calls and the mobile devices positioning of every single
> citizen without any legal reason. Court order is required, but the term
> “interface” is also introduced and this gives the agencies direct and
> untraceable access to the general national database for every one of us,
> rendering useless the control, exercised by the Court and the Parliament.
>   
Looks like they are trying to bypass one of the few, but important
checks in the Danish implementation of the Data Retention Directive:
Here the data is retained by the by the telecoms, and the authorities
need to show a court order to get a telecom to hand it over. There have
been examples of police officers in Denmark trying to get access to the
retained data without a court order, but this has been denied, showing
how important it is that the authorities cannot pull the retained data
without any control that it was authorised by the courts.

Without this check there is a grave danger to your democracy: With a
direct interface there is no guarantee that your government will not
abuse the retained data by pulling data about the opposition before your
next election, in an attempt to dig up dirt (or what could be made to
look like dirt, taken out of context) that can be leaked to the press
shortly before election day.

The old communist regimes loved this kind of surveillance, as it helped
them stay in power. It is not a coincidence the Germans have nick-named
the Data Retention Directive "STASI 2.0", referring to the former East
German secret police.

But democracy is threatened by it: If the press (being the public
watchdog) or the political opposition cannot communicate just as
privately as those in power, democracy cannot survive in the long run.

Best Regards,

Ole Husgaard.