Ms Justice Baker calls for urgent revision of data retention laws

Ms Justice Marie Baker

The designated judge for the Interception of Postal Packets and Telecommunications Messages (Regulation) Act 1993 and Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011 issued the call a year and a half on from the publication of the Murray Report.

Mr Justice John L. Murray, former Chief Justice of Ireland, was ordered to review data retention legislation following reports that the Garda watchdog had accessed two journalists’ mobile phone records during an inquiry into internal media leaks.

He recommended a number of important changes to the legislative framework because the existing laws are “universal and indiscriminate in application and scope”.

Writing in her annual report on the operation of the 1993 and 2011 legislation, Ms Justice Baker said: “It is a general view that the Act of 1993 is somewhat out of date having regard to data protection legislation, the difficulties posed by encrypted platforms, and that the changes in the landscape in regard to privacy and data protection in particular, and the changes in technology require to be dealt with to ensure a more effective and proportionate response to the balancing of the public and private interest in the exercise of the interception function.

“As regards data retention legislation, whilst I want to note that the procedural and substantive guarantees provided for by the 2011 Act are properly observed and the relevant powers are exercised by the relevant officers in a sensitive and prudent manner, I must note that there is an urgency in respect of the revision of the substantive provisions of the 2011 Act, as already suggested in the Murray Report.”