Mass surveillance by governments has limits: European justic

The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that member states cannot collect data from their citizens indiscriminately through interventions in their electronic communications. European governments must respect the privacy of citizens when carrying out mass surveillance, Forbes summarizes . The ruling was announced this Tuesday and refers specifically to France and Belgium. The ruling also refers to the United Kingdom. The procedure was opened thanks to two groups in defense of privacy; Privacy International and La Quadrature du Net, which understood that contrary to the ruling implied violating fundamental European rights.



The European Court itself recognizes that in "situations in which a member state faces a serious threat to national security", which may be "genuine, present and foreseeable", governments may repeal the obligation to guarantee confidentiality of retained data. Read more: The new Telecommunications Law does not qualify the 'digital decree' and Middle East Phone Number List maintains that the Government will be able to intervene on the internet without judicial control: Podemos will present amendments Of course, under very specific conditions. "An intervention of European fundamental rights must be accompanied by effective safeguards and be supervised by a court ," the CJEU itself warned in a press release on Tuesday. In this way, the CJEU guarantees telecom companies that they cannot be pressured by governments to deliver data or metadata of the electronic communications they manage.







This metadata does not necessarily include the content of the conversations that can be held over a telephone line, but it does include the incidence, time, duration and users involved in a call. Forbes has had access to the reactions of the groups that opened this procedure in the European Court of Justice. "The ruling reinforces the rule of law in the European Union. In these turbulent times, it is a reminder that governments cannot be above the law. Democratic societies must place limits and controls on the surveillance capacity of police and intelligence agencies. "Although police and intelligence agencies play a very important role in keeping us safe, they must do so under safeguards that prevent potential abuses.