EU court rules Data Retention Directive is invalid

Digital rights campaigners have hailed the decision by the European Court of Justice to throw out the Data Retention Directive — opening the way for a new challenge to Irish laws on the retention of personal data records here.

The campaign against the EU Data Retention Directive was launched in 2006 by Digital Rights Ireland, alongside similar actions by Austrian IT expert Michael Seitlinger and others.

They claimed that the blanket retention of data on citizens for periods of up to two years was contrary to privacy rights and open to abuse.