"EU and the right to privacy: EDPS on mid-term state of play"

As also stated by the EU Press Room, "Earlier today, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) held a press conference. Touching upon his achievements both in terms of data protection advice to the EU-institutions and supervision of their data processing, he also commented on the current debate climate - in which data protection and privacy advocates are wrongly criticised of hindering security policies.
Peter Hustinx, EDPS, said: 'It is a misconception that protection of privacy and personal data holds back the fight against terrorism and organised crime. Current legislation however does allow for instance law enforcement to check suspicious phone numbers found in a computer. Good data protection actually goes hand in hand with legitimate crime fighting because it increases the quality of data bases and at the same time makes sure that only the right people can access them'."

This Press Release is available in full text too.