Swedish Free Speech ISP Bahnhof stops retaining data, urges others to follow suit
Swedish ISP Bahnhof has ordered its technicians to abort storing traffic data about its customers and erase existing data.
The decision follows the April 8 verdict of the European Court of Justice, that declared the Data Retention Directive to be invalid.
Bahnhof now appeals to ISPs and telecom carriers all over Europe to follow suit and to human rights lawyers to analyse the particulars in each member state.
On April 8, 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxemburg declared the Data Retention Directive to be invalid.
Bahnhof, Sweden’s “Free Speech ISP” has stood up for the values that built Internet since its founding in 1994: Freedom of Communications and Privacy. It now takes the lead in the fight against Data Retention:
“Just hours after the verdict I ordered our technicians to abort storing traffic data about our customers. Moreover, we erased existing data.”, says Bahnhof CEO Jon Karlung.
He retorts to critics who claim that Bahnhof disobeys Swedish laws that are still valid: “They are simply misinformed. We have made a thorough legal analysis. The Secretary General of the Swedish Bar Association has even written a fiery article where she praises Bahnhof’s action”.
Time after time did the court find that the Directive is non-proportional and does not limit itself to what is strictly necessary for fighting terrorism and serious crime, in particular organised. This violates Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental RIights of the European Union: Respect for private and family life and Protection of personal data.
The verdict is particularly devastating when it comes to authorities’ access to and use of retained data. The Directive allows each member state to regulate this in national law, without restrictions.
“In Sweden this becomes a no-brainer!”, says Bahnhof CEO Jon Karlung. “Our legislators demand that we dig into this data and hand over certain information as soon as police, prosecutor or even the tax authority so demand, even for minor offences. It has nothing to do with public security.”
Bahnhof now appeals to ISPs and telecom carriers all over Europe to follow suit and to human rights lawyers to analyse the particulars in each member state.
Contact, CEO Jon Karlung:
+46 76 111 01 60
(please note GMT +2. Number has been corrected.)
Bahnhof was founded in 1994 and is Sweden's oldest and one of the largest independent national Internet providers. Bahnhof hosted WikiLeaks.