Law Enforcement in the Clouds: Is the EU Data Protection Legal Framework up to the Task?

2012 ◽  
pp. 203-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Grazia Porcedda
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Data Protection ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
The Eu

scholarly journals The European Union and the Search for an International Data Protection Framework

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Kuner
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Data Protection ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
The European Union ◽  
International Data ◽  
Data Protection Law ◽  
Eu Fundamental Rights ◽  
Global Data ◽  
The Eu

The European Union (EU) has supported the growing calls for the creation of an international legal framework to safeguard data protection rights. At the same time, it has worked to spread its data protection law to other regions, and recent judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) have reaffirmed the autonomous nature of EU law and the primacy of EU fundamental rights law. The tension between initiatives to create a global data protection framework and the assertion of EU data protection law raises questions about how the EU can best promote data protection on a global level, and about the EU’s responsibilities to third countries that have adopted its system of data protection.

scholarly journals Mass data gathering and surveillance: the fight against facial recognition technology in the globalized world

2020 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 03006
Author(s):  
Irena Nesterova
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Data Protection ◽  
Facial Recognition ◽  
Data Gathering ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
General Data Protection Regulation ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

The growing use of facial recognition technologies has put them under the regulatory spotlight all around the world. The EU considers to regulate facial regulation technologies as a part of initiative of creating ethical and legal framework for trustworthy artificial intelligence. These technologies are attracting attention of the EU data protection authorities, e.g. in Sweden and the UK. In May, San Francisco was the first city in the US to ban police and other government agencies from using facial recognition technology, soon followed by other US cities. The paper aims to analyze the impact of facial recognition technology on the fundamental rights and values as well as the development of its regulation in Europe and the US. The paper will reveal how these technologies may significantly undermine fundamental rights, in particular the right to privacy, and may lead to prejudice and discrimination. Moreover, alongside the risks to fundamental rights a wider impact of these surveillance technologies on democracy and the rule of law needs to be assessed. Although the existing laws, in particular the EU General Data Protection Regulation already imposes significant requirements, there is a need for further guidance and clear regulatory framework to ensure trustworthy use of facial recognition technology.

scholarly journals Consultation of EU Immigration Databases for Law Enforcement Purposes: a Privacy and Data Protection Assessment

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-177
Author(s):  
Niovi Vavoula
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Data Protection ◽  
Personal Data ◽  
Private Life ◽  
The Past ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Third Country Nationals

Abstract Since the past three decades, an elaborate framework of EU-wide information systems processing the personal data of third-country nationals has emerged. The vast majority of these systems (VIS, Eurodac, EES, ETIAS) are conceptualised as multi-purpose tools, whereby their consultation for crime-related objectives is listed among their ancillary objectives. As a result, immigration records may be accessed by national law enforcement authorities and Europol for the purposes of fighting terrorism and other serious crimes under specified and limited conditions. Drawing from the relevant jurisprudence of the European Court, this article evaluates whether the EU rules on law enforcement access to EU immigration databases comply with the rights to respect for private life and protection of personal data, as enshrined in Article 7 and 8 of the EU Charter respectively. In addition, challenges posed by the forthcoming interoperability between databases are also examined.

scholarly journals Smart meters’ roll out, solutions in favour of a trust enhancing law in the EU

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Domenico Orlando ◽  
Wim Vandevelde
Keyword(s):  
Data Protection ◽  
National Level ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Critical Assessment ◽  
Smart Meters ◽  
The Law ◽  
Roll Out ◽  
The Eu

The article briefly describes the smart meters technology in the electricity field, its potentials and risks in terms of privacy and data protection, which could undermine the trust of customers. Then, the article delineates the EU legal framework that applies to the technology. A critical assessment of the latter follows, with the identification of some flaws. The focus shifts subsequently to the national level of legislation, when the Flemish laws on the matter are analysed. A different part is dedicated to the role that some technologies could have to reduce the risks and implement privacy. In conclusion, some recommendations are proposed to make the law more prone to enhance trust by the customers.   

scholarly journals Criminal justice profiling and EU data protection law: precarious protection from predictive policing

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orla Lynskey
Keyword(s):  
Data Protection ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Predictive Policing ◽  
General Data Protection Regulation ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Specific Assessment ◽  
General Data ◽  
Data Protection Law ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThis paper examines the application of the latest iterations of EU data protection law – in the General Data Protection Regulation, the Law Enforcement Directive and the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the EU – to the use of predictive policing technologies. It suggests that the protection offered by this legal framework to those impacted by predictive policing technologies is, at best, precarious. Whether predictive policing technologies fall within the scope of the data protection rules is uncertain, even in light of the expansive interpretation of these rules by the Court of Justice of the EU. Such a determination would require a context-specific assessment that individuals will be ill-placed to conduct. Moreover, even should the rules apply, the substantive protection offered by the prohibition against automated decision-making can be easily sidestepped and is subject to significant caveats. Again, this points to the conclusion that the protection offered by this framework may be more illusory than real. This being so, there are some fundamental questions to be answered – including the question of whether we should be building predictive policing technologies at all.

scholarly journals Data Protection and the EPPO

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-43
Author(s):  
Paul De Hert ◽  
Vagelis Papakonstantinou
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Data Processing ◽  
Data Protection ◽  
Personal Data ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Specific Level ◽  
European Public ◽  
Regulatory Model ◽  
Regulatory Landscape ◽  
The Eu

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (the ‘EPPO’) necessarily processes personal data in order to fulfil its mission; As such, it falls squarely within the European Union (EU) data protection regulatory landscape. However, because the EU data protection regulatory landscape itself is currently found at a crossroads, an analysis of the EPPO data protection model may be twofold: First, placing it within the proper cross-organization dialogue currently taking place on the future regulatory model of personal data processing for law enforcement purposes carried out at EU level. Second, at an EPPO-specific level, whereby the actual data protection regime afforded to it may be assessed. This article purports to elaborate upon the above two data protection dimensions of EPPO personal data processing activities: It presents considerations and policy options during the lawmaking period that resulted in the establishment of the EPPO, it analyses the data protection regime ultimately awarded to it and attempts to, critically, place the EPPO data protection model within its proper operational and legislative environment.

scholarly journals EU Law and Mass Internet Metadata Surveillance in the Post-Snowden Era

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nora Ni Loideain
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Personal Data ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Communication Service ◽  
The Eu

Legal frameworks exist within democracies to prevent the misuse and abuse of personal data that law enforcement authorities obtain from private communication service providers. The fundamental rights to respect for private life and the protection of personal data underpin this framework within the European Union. Accordingly, the protection of the principles and safeguards required by these rights is key to ensuring that the oversight of State surveillance powers is robust and transparent. Furthermore, without the robust scrutiny of independent judicial review, the principles and safeguards guaranteed by these rights may become more illusory than real. Following the Edward Snowden revelations, major concerns have been raised worldwide regarding the legality, necessity and proportionality standards governing these laws. In 2014, the highest court in the EU struck down the legal framework that imposed a mandatory duty on communication service providers to undertake the mass retention of metadata for secret intelligence and law enforcement authorities across the EU. This article considers the influence of the Snowden revelations on this landmark judgment. Subsequently, the analysis explores the significance of this ruling for the future reform of EU law governing metadata surveillance and its contribution to the worldwide debate on indiscriminate and covert monitoring in the post-Snowden era.

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