Image: www.regeringen.se/pressmeddelanden

We are waiting for your invitation Sigurd!

Data storage Privacy

Last Thursday, the government decided to review the Swedish data retention regulation by appointing an inquiry led by Sigurd Heuman, chairman of the Swedish Security and Integrity Protection Board. The background is that the European Court of Justice ruled in December that the Swedish data retention provisions go too far, and are disproportionate.

The discussion about data retention for law enforcement purposes has been going on for many years. Two historical flashbacks that well illustrate the problem are PTS Director General Dan Sjöblom's blog from yesterday and Bahnhof's CEO Jon Karlung's response to the DN debate on February 15.

On February 8, IT&Telekomföretagen was invited to the Minister of the Interior Anders Ygeman to contribute with our perspective on the issue. During the meeting, we were very clear that this time we expect us as an industry to be included in the investigation: that the operator perspective is taken into account is absolutely necessary for us to finally land in a sustainable Swedish regulation on data storage.

Our experience was that Mr. Ygeman agreed with this, and therefore looks forward to participating in the discussions around a possible new legislation (and/or application of the current regulation) that meets both the need for law enforcement and the respect for privacy in accordance with the requirements of the European Court of Justice.

Until we meet again - which we hope will be soon - we have two messages for you and the politicians who have given you this important task:

  • Operators today have no choice but to comply with current legislation, there is no "voluntary storage" of data!
  • The starting point should not be general storage, but rather: what are the needs/what do we want to achieve? Is the legislation in place today sufficient? If not - why not?

Listening again!