Im Privatsphären-Ranking des US-basierten Electronic Privacy Information Centers und der britischen „Privacy International” Gruppe hat sich Österreich gim Jahr 2007 um zwei Plätze verschlechtert. Von „Adequate safeguards against abuse” wurde Österreich auf „Systemic failure to uphold safeguards” herabgestuft – und dabei wurden die Entwicklungen im Dezember noch gar nicht berücksichtigt!

Die Begründung für dieses Ranking:

• No explicit right to privacy in constitution but there are special laws for civil rights, including one for data protection; recent Supreme Court decisions are highly problematic
• Data Privacy law does not apply equally to paper files; law is considered cumbersome by experts; also sectoral laws
• Data Privacy Commission can bring civil and criminal provisions against institutions; but criticised for lack of independence
• Prohibits use of genetic data by insurance companies
• Medical data is treated as sensitive data by law
• Legal requirement permitting Austrian military to request subscriber data from telecommunications providers
• Centralisation of data on students that is stored for 60 years
• Social security card with unique numbers but little other information is stored; number of abandoned initiatives including health data cards, or ‘citizen card’ have been abandoned; e-identity management system is heavily criticised
• Judicial warrants for interception for serious crimes (10 years punishment or more)
• CCTV and audio surveillance is now permitted where data is stored for 48 hours; but this has not been enforced adequately
• Communications data is made available to copyright industry under Supreme Court decision
• Postponed data retention
• Matched DNA database with Germany in December 2006

The 2007 International Privacy Ranking @ Cargal

Tagged as: datenschutz, privacy, österreich | Author: Martin Leyrer
[Dienstag, 20080101, 21:30 | permanent link | 0 Kommentar(e)