The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) asks Europol to delete a large amount of personal data illegally stored. Datas from criminal reports, hacked from encrypted telephone services or collected on the backs of asylum seekers never involved in any crime.
Prevent Europol from following the same path as the NSA
This case could to mark a turning point in the field of personal data. Indeed, it is not just any organization that is targeted by the European Data Protection Supervisor. Europol is the European agency specialized in the repression of crime, supposed to be exemplary in all respects. The mission of this European agency is to facilitate the exchange of information between national police forces in matters of narcotics, terrorism, international crime and pedophilia within the European Union. Maybe not at any cost …
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At least, this is the opinion of the EDPS who considers that 4 petabytes of personal data kept by Europol represent a danger. According to the EDPS, the volume of data held by Europol’s systems is equivalent to “Mass surveillance and is a step forward towards the creation of a European equivalent of the United States National Security Agency (NSA)”. An organization whose clandestine online espionage revealed by Edward Snowden. Sensitive data is kept on at least 250,000 people suspected of terrorism or serious criminality.
The challenge is to find the right compromise between security and privacy.
Data accumulated by national authorities over the past six years. Most of this data is no longer up to date according to the European Data Protection Supervisor. That is why the watchdog has ordered Europol erase data held for more than six months and gave it a year to determine “What could be legally kept”. All the European commissioners are not, however, in unison. Ylva Johansson, in charge of home affairs, tried to defend Europol.
According to the European Commissioner, “Law enforcement agencies need the tools, resources and time to analyze the data legally transmitted to them. In Europe, Europol is the platform that supports national police authorities in this Herculean task ”. This injunction highlights the deep political divisions that exist between European decision-makers as to the trade-offs to be found between security and privacy.
The European Commission rightly considers that the legal concerns raised by the EDPS raise “A serious challenge” as to Europol’s ability to perform its functions. In the wake of the 2015 Bataclan attacks, Europol’s role has evolved. Naturally, the European agency has become a new solution to deal with concerns related to terrorism, and encouraged to collect data on multiple fronts.