14 DAY TRIAL // Viviane Redding, justice commissioner of the European Union, lashed out at member states, calling them hypocritical when it comes to reforming the data protection system.
Amid the huge mass surveillance scandal, most EU member states have not done enough. “There’s been a lot of hypocrisy in the debate. If the EU wants to be credible in its efforts to rebuilt trust, if it wants to act as an example for other continents, it also has to get its own house in order,” Redding said at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels.
She believes that the European Union must look carefully at its own data protection laws. “Neither the Commission, the Council, nor the European Parliament can be proud of the Data Retention Directive,” Redding said.
The directive she refers to requires telcos to store all telephone metadata, something that Redding believes should be done on a shorter term given the risk of abuse that is too great.
“One cannot simply use ‘national security’ as a trump card and disregard citizens’ rights. That is what others used to do. The European Data Retention law needs a health check. The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is the medicine,” she said, making a dig at the general attitude that the United States has taken regarding its mass surveillance programs, which it justifies by mentioning the fight against terrorism.
The fact that the British are working so closely with the United States also doesn’t sit right with Redding. Over the past months, the relationship between the NSA and the GCHQ has been mentioned numerous times.
“If I come across a single email, a single piece of evidence that the TEMPORA program is not used purely for national security purposes, I will launch infringement proceedings. The mass collection of personal data is unacceptable,” Redding said, referring to the GCHQ-run surveillance program.
Her irritation is easily explained by the fact that when the European Commission asked for an explanation from the British government regarding this particular program and its scope, the response was quite short, as Redding sums it up as “Hands off, this is national security.”
Over the past months, Redding has been one of the main voices in the European Union criticizing the mass surveillance programs and asking for such programs to be shut down.