Oct 14th 2013, 16:10, by Loek Essers, IDG News Service
Some Dutch telecommunications and Internet providers have exploited European Union laws mandating the retention of communications data to fight crime, using the retained data for unauthorized marketing purposes, according to a report by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs' Radiocommunications Agency.
The report, made public on Monday by Dutch digital rights organization Bits of Freedom following a freedom of information request, was completed in April 2012, but carriers and ISPs were not prosecuted for the breaches reported.
Bits of Freedom and other digital rights groups called on the European Commission to prevent further abuse of the European Data Retention Directive, which requires ISPs and telecommunications operators across the E.U. to retain connection data for a period between six months and two years, mainly for the purposes of investigating, detecting and prosecuting serious crime and terrorism.
The Netherlands introduced its data retention law in September 2009, requiring telecommunications operators to store data for one year and Internet providers to retain information for six months.
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon