This from the Daily Telegraph.
Shopping list could make you 'a terror suspect'
By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels
Last Updated: 1:10am BST 09/04/2007
The European Union's privacy watchdog has given warning that new access for Europol to personal data could lead to individuals being labelled as terror suspects based on hearsay or records of their shopping habits.
The warning, from the head of the European Data Protection supervisor, comes amid moves to allow the EU police agency to process so-called "soft data" in search of relevant information for its criminal investigations.
Peter Hustinx said that moves to give Europol the power to gather intelligence on "people who have not (yet) committed a crime" are without privacy safeguards.
He told The Daily Telegraph: "The proposal does not specify what data could be used in criminal investigations. It could be everything. It could be a vital detail such as an insurance company about a stolen car. But it could also be soft data, behavioural data."
The information could include statements of hearsay given to a local police force or data on personal shopping habits from a supermarket loyalty card, he said.
Under the new Europol rules, expected to be agreed by governments later this year, people will be unable to find out what information is held on them unless all 27 EU police forces unanimously grant permission.
Sayed Kamall, the Conservative Euro-MP, shares the watchdog's fears and is concerned that "behavioural data" will lead to ethnic profiling.
"For example, someone who purchases kosher meat and never shops on the sabbath, or who buys halal meat but not alcohol, can easily be categorised and every purchase scrutinised, no matter how innocent it may be," he said.
Mr Hustinx, a Dutchman with decades of experience as a national privacy watchdog and data protection at the European level, is worried at the absence of proper safeguards to ensure the reliability of "soft data".
He said that individuals could easily be identified as suspects, giving the example of someone seen standing next to a terror suspect at a bus stop and becoming labelled "a facilitator for terrorism".
Max-Peter Ratzel, Europol's director, said that European law enforcers needed to update and extend the scope of intelligence gathering - which is unchanged since the EU police agency was set up in the early 1990s.
"Our databases are on organised or serious international crime so I would assume that ordinary citizens would not have any possibility of being there," he said.
Comment: Who the fuck is giving Europol authority to collect this data? This is a fishing expedition hoping to catch something in the fishing net. As we know, dolphins and such like get caught up by mistake. It is no good giving them authority to collect such data in the first place, and then relying upon all the police forces to agree whether innocent people will be able to see what information is being stored upon them. People should insist that their governments do not go down this road because we do not know where it will end. It is no good saying that ordinary citizens have nothing to fear as it is just organised and serious criminals who would become the targets. It is not that long ago that an innocent Brazilian electrician was shot dead by police who suspected that he was a terrorist...
A mixture of law, politics, autobiography and humour. Once described as "The Devilish Advocate" (Guardian), I do have the ability to provoke a response. Sometimes it comes from someone who uses a thought process, and sometimes from jerks usually associated with the knee.
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