Data watchdog calls proposed internet logging mass surveillance

Kringvarp Føroya reports that the data oversight authority Dátueftirlitið has criticised a proposal requiring Faroese telecommunications companies to record when people use the internet and retain the information for one year.

The draft regulation comes from Denmark’s Ministry of Justice and would require information about residents’ internet use to be logged.

Tóri Højgaard, director of Dátueftirlitið, said the content of people’s internet use would not itself be recorded. However, he said the information could still be used to map people’s activity online.

He therefore considers the proposal to constitute mass surveillance and questioned whether it is appropriate to log information about the Faroese population in order to investigate a limited number of serious offences.