Annual Report Dutch Data Protection Authority

In the annual report on 2004, the Dutch Data Protection Authority strongly opposes the wide spread opinion that the protection of privacy would prevent an effective fight against terrorism, fraud or prevention of other criminal facts. The protection of personal data is one of the cornerstones of a free, democratic, and safe society, according to mr. Kohnstamm who is the chairman of the Data Protection Authority since September 2004. He draws the attention to, amongst others, the following actual developments: The overwhelming accumulation of powers for police and justice to gather personal data from (often unsuspected) citizens and the lack of a permanent mechanism to control the exercise of all these powers.

Further he refers to the dangers of the misuse of biometrical data to be used for identification. The cooperating Data Protection authorities in Europe would be especially concerned about the routine and large scale storage of biometrical data.

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Dutch Data Protection Authority Report 2004