Helsinki – A kiss-and-tell book about Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen violated his right to privacy, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. The author – Susan Ruusunen, whom Vanhanen once dated – and the publisher of the book were ordered to pay fines for having disclosed intimate details of the relationship. Publisher Kari Ojala was also…
Category: Non-U.S.
E.U. Tries to Balance Terror War and Privacy
James Kanter reports: The European Commission proposed ways Tuesday to safeguard information used by the authorities to track the finances of terrorism suspects and to ensure that body scanners at European airports do not jeopardize the health or privacy of passengers. The commission, the European Union’s executive, made the proposals in Strasbourg against a background…
Barcelona to ban full face veil in public areas
The Barcelona city council on Monday announced the banning of all face coverings, including the burqa, in public areas administered by the city. Barcelona Mayor Jordi Hereu indicated that the ban was put in place out of a concern for public safety [El Pais report, in Spanish], and was not aimed at any particular religious…
AU: Privacy betrayal has blown Labor’s chances
David Braue writes: Last week, I wondered whether Stephen Conroy’s rapid conversion into a caricature of a minister reflected systemic problems within Labor. You wouldn’t think Stephen Conroy would actually be trying to come up with a policy that is worse than both the internet filter and Google’s own infractions, which Conroy recently labelled as…