Communications of the ACM
Europol Ordered to Delete Data Concerning Individuals with No Criminal Link
The European Data Protection Supervisor granted Europol 12 months to review its databases and erase any material that cannot be linked directly to a criminal investigation.
Credit: Depositphotos
The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), a watchdog that oversees EU institutions' adherence to privacy and data protection legislation, has directed Europol to delete personal data of individuals who have no established link to criminal activity.
The order comes following an inquiry started by EDPS in April 2019 over concerns that the data processing activities of the European police agency were going beyond its mandate and violating data protection rules.
While Europol is allowed to collect data on cross-border crimes and make it available to national authorities to aid investigations, it appears that the agency has been analysing large volumes of data to develop new enforcement tools and train algorithms. Critics have compared this to the activities of the US NSA.
The EDPS has concluded that Europol was no longer processing data that was exclusively relevant to specific investigations, but was instead processing massive datasets shared with Europol by national law enforcement agencies in EU countries.
From Computing (U.K.)
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