March 18, 2015

Dutch data retention law scrapped for now

Filed under: Online by Orangemaster @ 11:23 am
privacy

A ruling from the District Court of The Hague says that Dutch telecoms no longer have to retain Internet and phone traffic data for law enforcement purposes because the retention law infringes on the privacy of the Dutch. The law required telecoms to save the communication and location data of everyone in the country from six months up to year, which was disproportionate for the courts. Saving all that data in order to fight possible crimes made everyone a suspect, never mind how bad the government is at data storage.

Journalists, lawyers and activists are thrilled with the verdict because it would ensure the confidentiality of their communications. However, the whole thing is unsure because the now former Minister of Justice and Safety Ivo Opstelten and his deputy Fred Teeven have had to resign over a shady pay off with a drug dealer and new people need to be appointed.

A bill is already before Parliament to scrap the retention law, but until it’s a done deal – like the above-mentioned drug dealer pay off – it’s not over yet.

(Links: www.theregister.co.uk, fd.nl)

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April 19, 2012

KPN discriminated with its ‘Dutch only’ discount

Filed under: Weird by Orangemaster @ 2:42 pm

KPN telecom recently had a ‘50% off for 100% Dutch’ advertising campaign that got some French people living in The Netherlands properly pissed off. The French popped into a KPN store to apply for the discount and were turned away for not being Dutch, which is discriminatory and illegal on a European scale.

And, like many Dutch companies and individuals do when they mess up, they call it a ‘misunderstanding’. KPN claims that the software for its ‘Hi’ mobile phone plan had been unfortunately programmed to accept only Dutch passport numbers for ID purposes and not resident permit numbers, which is commonplace. It is sad how the sales rep thought it was normal to turn someone of another nationality down for a discount. Actually it’s scary.

I have no reason to ever do business with KPN and I think they’ve just given me another reason to make sure that’s permanent.

(Links: www.rtl.nl, ftalphaville.ft.com, Tip: Matt (thanks!) )

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