The state is watching you—A cross-national comparison of data retention in Europe

Alena Birrer, Danya He and Natascha Just

Telecommunications Policy, 2023, vol. 47, issue 4

Abstract: While the rise of Internet platforms and their data-based business models have shifted public and scholarly attention towards corporate dataveillance, governments across Europe are similarly and continuously expanding their surveillance practices. This article focuses on bulk data retention as a prime example of modern state surveillance. In contrast to traditional forms of state surveillance, this is characterized by a shift from targeted interceptions of content to the general mass monitoring of communications metadata, takes place without prior suspicion, and outsources critical activities to the private sector. The article provides a comprehensive and up-to-date comparison of data-retention legislations and attendant discussions in Europe with a specific focus on the risks of modern state surveillance. The results indicate that both national bulk data-retention legislation and other forms of data retention such as subscriber and IP–address retention, targeted data retention, and expedited data retention fail to mitigate these risks. This highlights the need to develop precise criteria for the necessity and proportionality of data retention and effective safeguards regarding data security and protection.

Keywords: Bulk data retention; State surveillance; Metadata vs. content; Privacy; Fundamental rights; Digitalization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308596123000538
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:telpol:v:47:y:2023:i:4:s0308596123000538

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30471/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... /30471/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.telpol.2023.102542

Access Statistics for this article

Telecommunications Policy is currently edited by Erik Bohlin

More articles in Telecommunications Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().