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posted by janrinok on Sunday June 07 2015, @06:57PM   Printer-friendly
from the one-side-is-talking-sense dept.

The European Parliament is debating a passenger name record (PNR) law that would store information collected by airlines about passengers, including email addresses, credit card details, phone numbers, and meal choices (halal, kosher, etc), for use by security services. The proposal was rejected last year, but it is now back with over 800 amendments, some of which call for the proposal to be scrapped altogether:

Europarl's resident "Mr Data" said there is no proof that data retention stops terrorism. In an impassioned speech, German Green MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht said it was "a scandal" that member states and the European Commission were still pushing for this law even after the European Court of Justice ruled blanket data retention illegal.

Mocking the position of the European People's Party, he said: "Criminals adjust to retention loopholes, so why don't we keep the data for 100 years? Or why don't we retain data on train passengers? I could travel throughout Europe by train, am I not then a huge security threat? Or by car? Why don't we track cars? Why don't we just tape everything everyone does all the time? That is your [EPP] agenda."

Britain's police forces retain the data of all persons arrested by them for 100 years, whether or not they are ever charged with a crime or found guilty.

Dutch MEP Sophie In't Veld also rejected EPP claims that storage of passenger data would have prevented the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris earlier this year.

However, Swedish MEP Kristina Winberg of the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group, which includes British political party UKIP, said she didn't "feel safe in my own country" and that PNR data retention was necessary. British Conservative MEP Timothy Kirkhope added: "I am still convinced of the necessity and proportionality of the instrument. The threats we face are real and we need to find solutions."

The EDRi (European Digital Rights) has sent postcards to all EU MEPs.


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  • (Score: 2) by zugedneb on Sunday June 07 2015, @09:02PM

    by zugedneb (4556) on Sunday June 07 2015, @09:02PM (#193373)

    It is not cultural problems we are having.
    In many parts of the world is postcollonial + postimperial problems + industrial exploitation.
    So, by and large, I am inclined to agree with you, if fascism implies order.
    People are angry, people hate, people blame...
    So today, diversity needs order, and order needs some to enforce it.

    --
    old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
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