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21. 06. 2014

ŠABIĆ ANNOUNCES CONTROL OF INTERNET PROVIDERS

Beograd, 21.6.2014 (Tanjug) - Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, Rodoljub Šabić, announced to daily "Danas" that he will initiate direct supervision over internet providers which fail to keep so-called "withheld data" on users in a legally prescribed way.

"The supervision will include all the largest and most interesting providers. It has just started, and upon its end, based on the findings which will certainly not be pleasant, I will prepare and propose a package of measures that would contribute to the improvement of the conditions which are certainly not satisfactory", Šabić stressed.

The Commissioner pointed out that only 15% of internet providers keep withheld data for 12 months, which is the legal deadline, while the remaining 85% of providers keep the data longer or shorter than the prescribed deadline.

"They keep the data because it is the obligation prescribed by the Law on Electornic Communications. The obligation entails an adequate protection of the data and allows access to it only in accordance with the Constitution and the law. Therefore, the data can be accessible only to the user and the competent authorities for the purpose of criminal proceedings and protection of state security, and that only based on the court decision", Šabić explained.

He stated his concern with the existing situation because the data can be abused.

"The information about who you communicated with, in what way, from where, how long, how often, using what device, available for the past 12 months, can tell a lot about you. Based on such data, experts can create a personality profile. And it is needles to explain that the access to such data can be a serious intrusion into privacy and that the data can be abused in various ways", Šabić underlined.

Due to worrying results of the Commissioner's supervision over some 200 internet providers a second stage of supervision has been initiated.

"For example, the providers mainly do not keep records on the entrance and duration of stay of persons in the premises where data on communication can be accessed. In a large number of cases no systems for detection of unauthorized access are installed. More than 70% of operators think that the persons with access to communication data do not need security training or a security certificate", Šabić said. These are just some of the examples of violation of law by internet providers.