Greece’s privacy watchdog yesterday slammed an amendment, recently passed in Parliament, which paves the way for authorities to use surveillance cameras without restrictions, saying that it provides no safeguards governing how personal data will be handled. The Hellenic Data Protection Authority (APPD) has been locked in a dispute with the government and the police since…
Category: Non-U.S.
Merton council caught snooping on residents
Another UK council has been reportedly misusing anti-terrorism law to snoop on residents. This time, it’s Merton Council. According to a report in Your Local Guardian: Anti-terror laws have been used by Merton Council to snoop on residents, for petty offences ranging from breaching smoking bans to fly-tipping, 39 times since 2006, the Wimbledon Guardian…
ICO slams govt plans for accessing communications data
Privacy watchdog the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) believes that Government plans to force ISPs and telecoms firms to gather more communications data do not adequately protect privacy. The ICO has said that the plans are a “step change” in people’s relationship with the state, and that they could damage both the privacy of individuals and…
Dutch spam suspect fined €250K
Dutch telecoms regulators have fined a junk email spammer €250,000. Reinier Schenkhuizen was ordered to pay €250,000 by local regulator OPTA. Of this, €150,000 was for distributing junk emails and €100,000 for failing to create a means for recipients to unsubscribe to unwanted messages, according to local reports. OPTA alleges that Schenkhuizen was a “persistent…