<p>Yesterday the Bulgarian Parliament adopted at 1^st reading the
latest amendment in the Law on Electronic Communications, which once
again introduces elements from the Data Retention Directive in the
Bulgarian legislation.</p>
<p>Like in all the <a href="http://bogomil.blogactiv.eu/2009/02/03/fight-for-rights-and-differences-%e2%80%93-what-is-going-on-with-the-internet-bugging/">former proposals</a>, the human rights are extremely violated.</p>
<p><strong>Here are some points of the proposal: </strong></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>2. Another odd requirement, which is introduced in spite of the
Directive, is that traffic data may be retained for crimes with more
than 2 years imprisonment, which is practically almost any crime. Even
odder is the fact that the Law specifically says that these traffic
data can be used in relation to computer crimes, provided for in the
Penal Code, which soon will include the vague subject of computer
piracy.</p>
<p>Of course, there are many other problems, because the legislative
framework on data retention itself violates our rights and it is no
surprise that it is being abolished in many countries. We, in Bulgaria,
will continue to work for this.</p>
<p>Another interesting political fact is that currently the <a href="http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=111316">Bulgarian Parliament is a tool</a>,
used by a single political party to pass unclear policies and these
policies are being passed, without consideration of the public
discussions, the reasons against them or the citizens’ opinion.</p>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Bogomil "Bogo" Shopov<br>FOSS advocate, blogger and digital rights warrior <br><br><a href="http://bogomil.info">http://bogomil.info</a><br><a href="http://efb.bg">http://efb.bg</a><br>
<a href="http://svobodata.org">http://svobodata.org</a><br>