Webwereld, 18 February 2015: 'Read back: historic court case against Opstelten and the retention obligation'

“A motley coalition of providers and advocacy organisations for privacy, human rights, journalists and lawyers is suing the State. It must immediately render the unlawful retention obligation inoperative, is the demand.

A historic court case in The Hague today. As minister Opstelten refuses to suspend the retention obligation, the plaintiffs ask the court to kaltstellen the law.
Why? The retention obligation has always been controversial; its arrival was fiercely opposed. But after the European directive came through, member states had to follow (although the German court already shot it down).

EU Court, Council of State, CBP

However, last year the European Court retroactively rejected the directive. Storing call and internet data of anyone without concrete suspicion disproportionately violates human rights.

The Justice Department maintained that the Dutch law did remain valid. But the Council of State made it clear that this position was untenable, and in November Opstelten himself also acknowledged that law should be amended because it violated fundamental rights.

But suspend, ho on. And that is doubly unlawful, because enforcing a law that violates human rights is forbidden by the Constitution. Just this week, privacy watchdog CBP provided more ammunition: the Justice Department's proposed amendment to the Data Retention Act also remains in violation of fundamental rights and the EU Court ruling.

Broad coalition

Plenty of fodder, then, for the plaintiffs. These are his privacy club Privacy First, the Dutch Association of Criminal Lawyers, the Dutch Association of Journalists, the Dutch Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, internet provider BIT and telecom providers VOYS and SpeakUp. The lawyers are Fulco Blokhuis and Otto Volgenant of Boekx Advocaten. Unfortunately, the big (mobile) providers are missing; they are watching the cat out of the tree.

Read HERE the live coverage of the session back."

Source: http://webwereld.nl/beveiliging/85407-lees-terug-historische-rechtszaak-tegen-opstelten-en-de-bewaarplicht, 18 February 2015.