Top Czech courts rules data retention law unconstitutional

The Czech Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday the country’s phone and internet data retention law unconstitutional, accepting a complaint filed last year by 51 Czech MPs. Mobile phone operators and internet providers in the Czech Republic were required to keep the data over a period of six months, and make them available to the police and intelligence service upon request. The court sided with the critics of the law who pointed out that it violated people’s rights to privacy; judges said the law allowed for a massive interference with fundamental rights, and failed to provide adequate guarantees against the misuse of the data.