Especially when it could become retroactive…

On January 3rd, 2022, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), responsible for overseeing the compliance of European Union (EU) institutions and agencies with data protection law, notified Europol, the EU agency for police cooperation, of an order to delete data it has illegally retained and processed for years.

Unfortunately, EU policymakers want to remove any remaining legal barriers to this mass surveillance complex, with new regulations that would let Europol:

• circumvent its own rules when it “needs” to process data categories outside of its somewhat restricted white list, legalising data practices that were so far prohibited and confirming the use of predictive policing in European law enforcement
• keep the datasets it received before the entry into force of the new regulation and to analyse them for a period of three years. In practice, this would mean that illegal data processing is retroactively legalised

The European Digital Rights association (EDRi)and 22 other civil society organisations are thus urging EU policymakers to radically change plans regarding the reform of the Europol regulation.

To know more, and sign the open letter, read the full EDRi call.