Data Retention Law’s

Mandatory Data Retention around the World

Last Updated 12 July 2019

Resources

  1. Mandatory Data Retention in the Czech Republic
  2. Data Retention Directives in Australia
  3. Mandatory Data Retention Laws in the European Union
  4. Mandatory Data Retention in the United States
  5. Romania and Data Retention Law 2018 Updated
  6. Whats The Data Retention in Russia
  7. Mandatory Data Retention in Slovakia
  8. Switzerland’s: Mandatory Data Retention
  9. Data Retention Directives in Germany
  10. Data Retention Laws in Serbia
  11. Mandatory Data Retention Laws in Norway
  12. Data Retention Laws in Sweden

The process of retaining user’s data for a given time period is known as data retention. Data retention is usually done due to the legislation formed by a state or government.

Now every country is introducing and adopting data retention laws in different forms and format. These laws are creating chaos and mess in different countries.

Under these laws, the country’s internet service providers and telecom companies are compelled to gather and retain the user’s data regarding their online activities.

The data retention laws are formulated to provide records and information about the user’s data to the investigators and law enforcement agencies. On one hand, these laws give surveillance opportunities to the government while at the same time these laws breach the basic human rights.

The countries in which the data retention directives are enforced with some strict online privacy instruction and guidelines have overruled vital requirements for getting personal information.

The laws which force individuals’ privacy usually orders the organizations not to store the user’s data like user’s billing data and information for a prolonged period and should delete the data after a specified time period.

What is Mandatory Data Retention?

The mandatory data retention regimes are usually paired off with provisions which permit investigators to get hold of the user’s records. These regimes boost the government’s skill to keep an eye on its citizens by harming and spoiling their privacy, free expression, and obscurity.

The service providers operating in a country provide their user’s with a particular IP address by means of which they easily identify the user. The internet service provider after a certain time period changes the IP of the user.

Within the data retention directives, the service providers are forced to store the data regarding the user’s online activity for a certain time period by tracing their IP address. The data retention directives assist the law enforcement agencies to have access to individuals by enquiring the service providers of their IP address assigned to that user.

Why you should concern?

The mandatory data retention directives affect millions of users who have to compromise on their online privacy, which is important for investigators, journalists, and those participating in political speech.

The national data retention directives are offensive, inflated, and a great threat to the right to privacy and freedom of expression. These directives force the service providers to make large databases of data about who communicates with whom through the internet or phone.

It also includes the time duration of calls and the location of the user.

These regimes need that your IP address to be obtained and stored every time you appear online. As the databases become open to larceny and accidental revelation so, it increases the privacy risk.

The Internet service providers and the telecom companies must take in the cost of retaining and maintaining the large databases and frequently permits these expenses on to the users.

Criticism on Mandatory Data Retention Laws:

The data retention laws are criticized all over the world. These laws are considered a serious violation of the basic rights and freedom of individuals.

These directives carry out invasive investigation and observation of every citizen and are unbearable in countries where freedom is valued. These Constitutional Court in Romania, Germany, and the Czech Republic have declared these directives as unconstitutional which were based on the European Data Retention Directives of 2006.

Whereas, a court in Ireland has discussed a data retention case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and have asked about the authenticity and legitimacy of the entire EU data retention directives.

Data Retention Laws in Different Countries:

Country Data Retention Period Authorization required to access the data Status of data retention regime
Argentina In May 2009 were declared unconstitutional
Australia Two Years No judicial oversight apart from the problematic The Australian Parliament passed a data retention bill, which gets approved, and the law is still implemented.
Austria The laws are declared unconstitutional.
Belgium 1 year and 36 months for public telephone services while no provisions for internet-based data. The judicial officer must permit the access. Suspended by the court.
Brazil No such has been passed.
Bulgaria 1 year but if requested then for another six months. Orders from the regional court chairman could only permit the access. Suspended twice in 2008 and 2015.
Cyprus Six months A public prosecutor can approve the access and can also order for the evidence attempting any criminality. If a judge doubts anyone of a misconduct so can order the access to data if it is associated with the crime. Suspended by the court.
Czech Republic Declared unconstitutional.
Denmark 1 Year Orders from the legal court are needed for getting the access. The orders from the court can also be permitted if the applications meet the grounds of suspicion, necessity and proportionality. Session logging ceased in 2014.
European Union 6 months to 2 years Data of every citizen will be retained. Implemented
Estonia After the orders from preliminary investigation judge data access would be granted. Implemented
Finland 1 Year All competent can access the data and judicial orders are not needed, however, court orders are needed for other data. Under review
France 1 Year The police have to require justification and authorization from a person in the Ministry of the Interior designated by the Commission Nationale de control des interceptions de security to access the data. Implemented
Germany 1 Year Suspended by the court.
Greece 1 Year Surveillance declared impossible and extremely difficult by means other than judicial orders for the access. Implemented
Hungary Six months for unsuccessful calls and a year for other data. Prosecutor authentication is needed by the customs office, public and national tax. Prosecutor and national law enforcement agencies can access this data without court orders. The further constitutional challenge which is opposing the law is being prepared.
Italy 2 Years for telephone and mobile data and 1 Year for internet data. This includes email and internet telephony data. After getting evident orders from public prosecutor data access is made available. Implemented
Ireland 2 Years for fixed telephony and mobile telephony data and 1 Year for internet access data. This includes internet email and internet telephony data. No request to be in writing from police officer or military over a particular rant and tax/customs officials over a specified grade. Judicial challenge
Latvia 18 Months Authorized officers, public prosecutor’s office, and courts are required to access adequacy and relevance of the request to record the request and assure the protection of data obtained. In forced
Lithuania 6 Months A written request is needed for authorized public authorities to store data. A judicial warrant is necessary to access pre-trial investigations. In forced
Luxembourg 6 Months Judicial approval is needed to access the data. Under Review.
Malta 1 Year for fixed mobile and internet telephony data and 6 months for internet access and internet email data. Written requests are given to Malta Police Force; Security Service. Implemented
Netherlands 1 Year for telephony data and 6 months for internet related data Orders from a public prosecutor or an investigating judge are required. In March 2015, the laws got suspended.
Norway No mandatory data retention regime.
Poland 2 Years A written request is needed and in case of police, border guards, and tax inspectors authorized by a senior official in the organization. Facing challenge
Portugal 1 Year Transmission of data requires judicial authorization on the grounds that access is crucial to uncover the truth, or that evidence would be in any other manner, impossible or very difficult to obtain. The judicial approval is subject to necessity and proportional requirements. Implemented
Romania 6 Months under earlier cancelled transposing law. Declared unconstitutional.
Slovenia 8 Months for internet access data and 14 months for telephony related data Judicial authorization is required to have the access. Orders are given to delete the stored data under the data retention legislation after declaring it unconstitutional.
Slovakia 1 Year for internet services Written requests are required. Deleted the stored data and stop following the orders by ECJ.
Spain 1 Year Judicial authorization is required for competent national authorities to have access to the data. Under the reviewing process.
Sweden 6 Months Expected to face the judicial challenge
Switzerland Under challenge.
UK 1 Year Access is allowed, subject to authorization by a designated person and necessity and proportionality test, in specific cases, and in circumstances in which the exposure of the data is allowed or required by a law. In 2015, the directives are judicially challenged by the MPs. The key directives of data retention laws are disapplied.
USA 1 Year for phone calls, internet, emails, and metadata records. Various US agencies leverage the (voluntary) data retention practised by many USA commercial organizations such as Amazon via programs such as Prism and Muscular. No mandatory data retention laws.

Ways to Protect Yourself from Data Retention:

The data retention laws are invasive and breach the basic rights of citizens. But there are ways by which you can secure your data from getting retained. If you want to know more about the ways by which you can protect yourself from data retention then follow this link.

There are 13 posts filed in Data Retention Law’s (this is page 1 of 2).

Data Retention Directives in Australia

In Australia, there is no mandatory data retention law. The Australian Parliament despite the opposition by various journalists, activist, the general public and public figures passed amendments in 2015. The amendments was passed to the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979. It compels the ISPs and various telecom companies to be vigilant and keep records […]

Mandatory Data Retention Laws in the European Union

Likewise, every other country European Union has also imposed mandatory data retention laws on the users of different countries. Due to the increasing misuse of the internet and communication devices, many EU member states complain that these things are resulting in more criminal activities. The data retention laws imposed by the European Union is a […]