UK Government Ignores European Court Ruling On Data Retention: Tells Telecom Companies To Carry On Spying

from the who-needs-laws?-just-do-as-we-say dept

Wed, Jun 25th 2014 3:34am — Glyn Moody

One of the interesting issues arising out of the important ruling from the European Union Court of Justice that the EU's Data Retention Directive was invalid, is what the member states will now do as a result. The UK government, one of the principal cheerleaders for storing all this data in the first place, has no doubts about what it should do - it will completely ignore that judgment for the moment, as the Guardian reports: despite the fact that the directive which mandated the creation of the [Data Retention (EC Direction) Act of 2009] was struck down, the UK government has not yet moved to invalidate the Act. Answering a parliamentary question from Liberal Democrat MP Julian Huppert the Home Office minister James Brokenshire revealed last week that the government had explicitly notified telecoms providers that "they should continue to observe their obligations as outlined in any notice", despite the ruling.
Here's why the UK government has told them to do that: The Home Office added that "the retention of communications data is absolutely fundamental to ensure law enforcement have the powers they need to investigate crime, protect the public and ensure national security".
Of course, it offers absolutely zero evidence that this is true, and also ignores admissions by the Danish police that it is not. But then, the UK government always was a big fan of dogma-based policy, as the awful Digital Economy Act made so painfully clear.

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Filed Under: data retention, data retention directive, eu court of justice, spying, surveillance, uk

17 Comments

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That One Guy (profile), 25 Jun 2014 @ 2:20am

Between a rock and a hard place
So companies comply, and risk being sued by people/groups that believe that the EU Court of Justice's ruling makes such actions illegal or at least of questionable legality, or they refuse, in which case they've got the UK government breathing down their necks and threatening them.

A 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' situation to be sure, and one I expect will only really get tested once the matter is brought to court.
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Anonymous, 25 Jun 2014 @ 4:05am

Re: Between a rock and a hard place
I'm pretty certain that there is no questionable legality. The logging directive violates the CHARTER OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION.

The real question is, who can you sue?
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Jun 2014 @ 4:06am

UK to EU: We just put our fingers in our ears and go nananananana we're not listening.
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- Anonymous Coward, 25 Jun 2014 @ 8:19am
  
  Re:
  More like putting up their middle finger (or in UK fashion, the V gesture).
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Chris-Mouse (profile), 25 Jun 2014 @ 4:10am

Since when is the "gotta collect it all!" crowd worried about minor things like obeying the law?
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Jun 2014 @ 4:17am

What's the difference between a fascist country and the UK?

It's a trick question.
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- Call me Al, 25 Jun 2014 @ 4:44am
  
  Re:
  You might find this helpful.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism
  
  The UK's surveillance is disgusting but lets not get carried away just yet.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 25 Jun 2014 @ 7:39am
    
    Re: Re:
    To be fair, someone posted an extensive list of all the shit the UK has pulled.
    
    iirc, Police stormed some guy's house to force the owner to remove a "David Cameron is a wanker" poster.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 25 Jun 2014 @ 8:56am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/may/11/david-cameron-poster-police
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Jun 2014 @ 5:00am

So the UK is taking another step towards leaving the EU.

Can't wait for Scotland to leave the UK and reenter the EU, because i am terribly disappointed about the current state of affairs in the UK.
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Applesauce, 25 Jun 2014 @ 6:30am

Laws only apply to t he dirty masses
Geo. Washington famously said: "Government is force."

The inevitable corollary to that dictum is that governments can be above the law whenever they please. Laws are instituted for the people to obey their governments, not the other way around. We should now see that clearly.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Jun 2014 @ 8:55am

I remember a time when I though the UK had strict privacy laws. Boy was I mistaken!
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BeS, 25 Jun 2014 @ 9:03am

Its okay the UK have got Rebekah Brooks legal team on it.....and the same firm had David Cameroon's brother working for it. Hmmmm.
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Anonymous, 25 Jun 2014 @ 3:37pm

Who needs laws? Not me.
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enlighted, 26 Jun 2014 @ 7:21am

Sweden has chosen to ignore the ruling as well, which isn't a huge surprise really.
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rapnel, 26 Jun 2014 @ 9:31am

To wit
Fuck the UK and will somebody, somewhere, please shoot that fucking horse.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Jun 2014 @ 10:38am

I didn't think the UK was a member of the EU.
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