Senate approves bill requiring phone operators to record personal communications data

The Senate has approved a bill requiring phone operators and internet providers to record data on personal electronic and mobile communication. The Czech Interior Ministry, which drafted the bill, hopes it will help fight organized crime by keeping a record of who called who, when, from where and for how long. Activists have said it will instead introduce a principle of ‘guilty until proven innocent’ into Czech law. The country’s Constitutional Court last year struck down a similar measure arguing that personal data retention was unconstitutional.