Netherlands Court Scraps Law to Save Privacy

A judge in The Hague, Netherlands has changed the law on data retention as it not only served crime prevention but it was also deemed an intrusion on privacy for citizens. The Data Retention Law required both telephone companies and internet service providers to hold records on customer’s information for up to a year. Landlines and mobile phone records had to be stored for up to a year and internet user’s had their records on file for six months.

The European top court made a similar ruling back in April 2014 when it was decided that the EU data retention was too broad and too intrusive. Even though holding these records helped in solving numerous crimes, it was an even bigger privacy breach on everyone else.

Judge GP van Ham, who passed the overturning, did not set a date for destroying the stored data, but it is a step in the right direction for the Netherlands. This comes from Privacy First, who are one of the organisations to take the government to court over breaches of privacy. After the EU ruling last year, the Dutch government did claim that they intended to amend the ruling but are not happy with the judge’s ruling this time.

As Edward Snowden’s revelations still send shockwaves across the world of security and privacy, more and more governments are receiving increased pressure in the transparency of surveillance and data recording. As online security is becoming as important as ever, it is becoming paramount that you protect yourself whenever you’re online.

Sign up to Le VPN, and with an encrypted connection you will be able to surf the internet completely anonymously and safely. This will prevent anyone from snooping on your activity, as well as no matter what device you use to connect, you will be protected.