would cease making significant investments in the country if the controversial law was
not revisited. 78
A different development of events occurred in Finland, where employers organizations (reportedly including handset giant Nokia) 79 lobbied strongly for introducing legislation that would allow employers to track employees’ e-mails to prevent
corporate espionage. In March 2009, the Finnish government adopted such a law
granting employers access to information about their workers’ messages, including
the recipients, senders, and the time when e-mails were sent or received, and whether
the e-mails contained attachments. The law does not allow the employers to read the
content of the messages outright. Nonetheless, employers’ otherwise broad rights over
employees’ electronic communications raise serious privacy concerns.
Germany, too, is taking active steps toward increasing government surveillance
online. A new amendment to the national telecommunication law requires that ISPs
retain personal data, such as e-mail senders’ IP addresses, recipients’ IP addresses, date
and time of all messages, IP address for each Internet subscriber, and a unique identifier
for each client to track online activity.
Germany’s federal crime police, the Bundeskriminalamt, have not only monitored
e-mails and chat rooms, but also begun performing so-called online raids. 80 The idea
is to infect a suspect’s personal computer with Trojan horse software to secretly record
data entered into the computer. However, this technique remains highly controversial.
The federal constitutional court ruled in March 2008 that online raids could only be
used in exceptional circumstances. 81
In 2005, the Italian government authorized increased surveillance of the Internet
and telephone networks. 82 The bill requires Internet cafe ´s to keep photocopies of
customers’ passports and to periodically submit logs of all Web sites visited to the
police. 83 The law also increases licensing requirements for telecommunication service
operators, making licensing approval dependent upon the existence of satisfactory
data-monitoring and retention systems. 84
In France, two laws have granted increased surveillance powers to the government.
The Daily Safety Law (LSQ ) was approved almost unanimously by parliament on November 15, 2001, and the Internet Safety Law (LSI) was enacted on February 13, 2003.
Together, these laws require that ISPs keep a record of their customers’ Internet activity
and e-mail traffic for a year and that encryption firms assist authorities in decoding
messages involved in criminal trials. Additionally, in June 2008 the French government established the High Authority for Copyright Protection and Dissemination of
Works on the Internet, which will monitor all network traffic for possible copyright
infringement.
Similar surveillance policies were introduced in Poland, with a February 2003
amendment to the Telecommunications Law. The law requires telecommunication
companies to provide the police and other state agencies with access to information
sent through telecommunications networks for the purpose of national defense, state
Europe Overview
289
not revisited. 78
A different development of events occurred in Finland, where employers organizations (reportedly including handset giant Nokia) 79 lobbied strongly for introducing legislation that would allow employers to track employees’ e-mails to prevent
corporate espionage. In March 2009, the Finnish government adopted such a law
granting employers access to information about their workers’ messages, including
the recipients, senders, and the time when e-mails were sent or received, and whether
the e-mails contained attachments. The law does not allow the employers to read the
content of the messages outright. Nonetheless, employers’ otherwise broad rights over
employees’ electronic communications raise serious privacy concerns.
Germany, too, is taking active steps toward increasing government surveillance
online. A new amendment to the national telecommunication law requires that ISPs
retain personal data, such as e-mail senders’ IP addresses, recipients’ IP addresses, date
and time of all messages, IP address for each Internet subscriber, and a unique identifier
for each client to track online activity.
Germany’s federal crime police, the Bundeskriminalamt, have not only monitored
e-mails and chat rooms, but also begun performing so-called online raids. 80 The idea
is to infect a suspect’s personal computer with Trojan horse software to secretly record
data entered into the computer. However, this technique remains highly controversial.
The federal constitutional court ruled in March 2008 that online raids could only be
used in exceptional circumstances. 81
In 2005, the Italian government authorized increased surveillance of the Internet
and telephone networks. 82 The bill requires Internet cafe ´s to keep photocopies of
customers’ passports and to periodically submit logs of all Web sites visited to the
police. 83 The law also increases licensing requirements for telecommunication service
operators, making licensing approval dependent upon the existence of satisfactory
data-monitoring and retention systems. 84
In France, two laws have granted increased surveillance powers to the government.
The Daily Safety Law (LSQ ) was approved almost unanimously by parliament on November 15, 2001, and the Internet Safety Law (LSI) was enacted on February 13, 2003.
Together, these laws require that ISPs keep a record of their customers’ Internet activity
and e-mail traffic for a year and that encryption firms assist authorities in decoding
messages involved in criminal trials. Additionally, in June 2008 the French government established the High Authority for Copyright Protection and Dissemination of
Works on the Internet, which will monitor all network traffic for possible copyright
infringement.
Similar surveillance policies were introduced in Poland, with a February 2003
amendment to the Telecommunications Law. The law requires telecommunication
companies to provide the police and other state agencies with access to information
sent through telecommunications networks for the purpose of national defense, state
Europe Overview
289