DOES THE DATA RETENTION DIRECTIVE DEMONSTRATE A PROPORTIONATE RESPONSE TO TERRORISM?

In response to the increasing terrorist attacks across the globe, both governmental and EU-level actions were launched, culminating with a number of legislative measures. In this regard, the Data Retention Directive entered into force in 2006, bringing out certain legal tools towards ensuring confidentiality of the communications to safeguard national security, public security and the prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of crimes. This paper aims to discuss whether that Data Retention Directive demonstrates a proportionate response to terrorism. To this end, firstly, the so-called Directive is assessed in general and with its specific measures. Secondly, proportionality of the Directive is analyzed. Finally, some remarks will be made on the most prominent issues pertinent to data retention, e.g. blanket data retention, right to privacy, retention period, and other safeguard measures.