[pp.int.general] new study: data retention is not helping criminal investigations

[Pat Maechler aka Valio]

According to an article published in heise.de (in German only; sorry :-/ )
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Bundestagsanalyse-Vorratsdatenspeicherung-hilft-Ermittlern-nicht-wirklich-1223876.html
the scientific service of the German parliament "Bundestag" will
publish a study that indicates that data retention did not help in
criminal investigations.
The study states that in those countries and periods where data
retention has been put in place the clearance rate for law enforcement
did not rise at all.

That's very important news for us, given the huge abuse potential for
data retention!

If you're not aware yet how much of a privacy breach data retention is
take a look at this tool:
http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-vorratsdaten
It shows six months of data of the live from the German Green
politician Malte Spitz, that was kept for data retention.
He got it by sueing his telecommunication company "Deutsche Telekom" for it.
News article in English http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2011/04/01/5418538.htm

-pat