What About the Balance Between Law Enforcement and Data Protection?

Abstract

The Data Retention Directive (2006/24/EC) provides the obligation for providers of publicly available electronic communications services or of public communications networks to retain traffic and location data for six months up to two years for the purpose of the investigation, detection and prosecution of serious crime. In the regulatory framework imposed by this Directive, the Portuguese Law no. 32/2008, of 17 July, requires that providers of publicly available electronic communication services or of public communications networks retain specific communication data, so that such data can be accessed by competent authorities, exclusively for the purpose of investigation, detection and prosecution of serious crime. Retained (via digital storage) metadata of telecommunications acts change and transform into the content of something else: a surveillance program. The concept of a data space that provides movement within and between data described here illustrates the powers of data retention in an imaginable way. Considering potential uses and misuses of retained data such as traffic analysis, social network analysis and data mining, this chapter examines the degree of interference with the right to privacy posed by the data retention laws.