Holland systemically fails to uphold privacy safeguards

We wrote before that the USA is becoming a police state, well according to “The 2007 International Privacy Ranking” Holland is not doing much better.

According to the report Holland gets a 2.1 grading which stands for a Systemic failure to uphold safeguards:

 
 
 
 
The Netherlands

• Constitutional protection in Article 10, Article 12, and 13; moves to change the constitution to be more technology neutral were postponed
• Comprehensive privacy law and sectoral protections
• Data Privacy Authority can apply administrative measures and impose fines; and posts advisories to government on new legislation; extensive work in the area of medical records in 2007
• Growth of corporate privacy officers across the country
• Court order required for interception, except for the intelligence services who are authorised by the Minister of Interior; controversies and court cases over the burden to industry
• Access to traffic data by order of the public prosecutor, but for serious offences (where punishment is imprisonment for four years or more); though subscriber data can be accessed by police in case of mere suspicion. Parliament rejected proposal to notify suspects after subscriber data has been accessed.
• In 2007 government moved to implement data retention directive with 18 months period, despite concerns from Authority
• Continued proposals to increase power of law enforcement agencies
• Plans to implement in 2008 a database of all children to record development from birth
• New plans for expanded use of biometrics
• DNA collected on all convicted of serious crimes
• Compulsory identification for all persons from age of 14, where 5300 individuals are fined every month for not carrying ID
• Passport includes fingerprints and facial images, and government proposed in 2005 that a centralised register be created
• Law from 2003 makes it unlawful to use hidden cameras in public places without notification; cameras can otherwise keep images for 4 weeks for the purpose of keeping public order
• Courts have ruled that subscriber data can be disclosed to copyright industry, and anonymous website owners
• Ratified Cybercrime convention

This of course doesn’t make Holland a police state but it does show that privacy is less and less protected in Holland. Especially the fact that that subscriber data can be disclosed to copyright industry (BREIN) is totally un-acceptable. Note that these organizations are private intrerest groups not Governmental agencies. Not that privacy is safe in the hands of Government as the UK data retention catastrophy showed.

Full report and more information can be found here

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