Faroese prime minister defends planned internet data retention

Faroese Prime Minister Beinir Johannesen acknowledges that a proposed data-retention system would amount to mass surveillance, but says the intrusion is properly balanced, Kringvarp Føroya reported.

Johannesen plans to bring a Danish regulation on data retention into force in the Faroe Islands. Under the regulation, telecommunications companies would have to record information that can identify people online and store it for one year.

The purpose would be to allow police to link an IP address to a specific user when investigating digital crimes. Johannesen particularly points to digital sexual offences and financial crimes.

The Data Protection Authority has described the proposal as mass surveillance. Johannesen does not reject that description, but argues that the system is properly balanced because a judge would have to authorise police access to the information.

According to the prime minister, police have not presented figures showing how much the new system is expected to improve investigative work.

People interviewed in a street survey by KVF expressed differing views on the proposal.