Court rules against investigators accessing telecommunications data

Brno, Jan 4 (CTK) - Czech investigators will not have access to data on telecommunication operations that enable them, for instance, to localise phone calls of crime suspects, as from October 2012, under a Constitutional Court's (US) verdict that abolished the respective part of the Penal Code yesterday.

However, the US judges let the provision remain in effect until the end of September, giving legislators time to amend the law to be in harmony with the constitutional order.

The proposal for the abolition of the controversial article was submitted by a Prague district court.

The provision modifies the investigators' access to data from operators.

According to the district court, the provision is too benevolent and it is at variance with the fundamental right to the protection of telecommunication privacy.

Consequently, investigators receive detailed information about citizens' privacy too easily, the critics said.

The provision does not apply to wiretapping and telephone calls recordings, but to "operation and location data" from telephone operators and Internet providers.

Thanks to them, investigators can find out the communicating persons as well as their location and the exact time of the call.

These data are important, for instance, during the investigation to reveal the suspects' movement at the time when a crime was committed.

The US criticised the same provision in a finding from last March that abolished a part of the law on electronic communication ordering that Internet providers and telephone operators store data on Internet and phone communications and hand them to the police and the intelligence on request.

The US concluded that the law disproportionately infringes on people's privacy and it does not set clear rules for the use of the gathered data.