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Opposition Slams Revised Personal Data Protection Act Proposal

21.11.2014 19:01

Opposition deputies on Friday criticized the proposed Personal Data Protection Act, which in its revised form will grant new powers to the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), the gendarmerie and the police force, allowing them to process and archive personal data.

Opposition deputies on Friday criticized the proposed Personal Data Protection Act, which in its revised form will grant new powers to the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), the gendarmerie and the police force, allowing them to process and archive personal data.

Republican People's Party (CHP) İzmir deputy Erdal Aksünger spoke with Today's Zaman regarding the proposal. “The Personal Data Protection Act shows the government's paranoia. This proposal is not needed for the government to provide services. On the contrary, it stems from the government's paranoia,” he said.

“Because they [the Justice and Development Party (AK Party)] are finding it hard to change the Constitution, they are trying to find ways to poke holes in it with laws,” Aksünger said.

The politician, who is also on the parliamentary Corruption Investigation Commission, went on to say: “The ruling party is feeling a serious threat of being removed from power. To quell these fears they are invading all sections of private life.”

“With the unbelievably huge and unsupervised budgets they are militarizing MİT. ‘Police states' are seen in fascist countries. With the last set of legislation, the government has passed another level of fascism,” he said.

According to a report in the Hürriyet daily on Friday, there have been important revisions to the proposal, which has been revised three times by the AK Party. The latest version of the proposal blocks citizens who have had their personal data processed by government institutions from asking that the data be erased. This will lead to mass archiving of personal data aside from judicial investigations.

The proposal means that MİT, the gendarmerie and the police force will be able to collect personal data without abiding by any laws. The three institutions will not have to inform the persons involved about collecting their data. Citizens will not have any place to turn to in order to ask where the data is being stored or request that the data be erased from the database. Also, the procedures undertaken by the three institutions under the proposed law will not be regulated by the Personal Data Protection Board.

Nevzat Korkmaz, a deputy from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), talked to Today's Zaman regarding the proposal, saying, “The AK Party mentality is an attempt to perpetuate their rule and power.”

Korkmaz, another member of the parliamentary Constitution Committee, went on to say: “Especially after the [Dec.] 17-25 corruption and bribery investigations, the government has started seeing the law as a threat to itself. They are trying undermining the power of the law, bringing it to its knees.”

“The Personal Data Protection Act, which has been forwarded to the Cabinet and is currently waiting to be signed, is something one only sees in police states. Bestowing new powers on law enforcement is not something that can be accepted in the modern world,” he said.

Audio, visual, even DNA data to be archived

Within the scope of the proposed law, the three institutions will be able to archive telephone numbers, social security numbers, passport numbers, background data, audio data, pictures, videos, fingerprints and genetic data. If the data is archived for the protection of public health, preventive medicine and medical diagnoses, the data will be open to use by those under oath.

According to the proposal, if the person who the data has been taken from reveals any details about nationality, ethnic background, political views, philosophy, religion, sect or other beliefs, imprisonment sentences, private information regarding sexual orientation or health, the ban on archiving the data will be lifted, allowing the data to be stored. The proposal therefore also allows for the limited archiving of these types of data in certain circumstances.

The data will be collected with the consent of the person and the processing will be in compliance with “the law and rules about confidentiality, being updated whenever needed and be used for open and legitimate purposes.” If a problem arises with the collection and archiving of data and the owner of the data is damaged by this, the owner will be reimbursed for the damages.

The data will not be transferred abroad without the consent of the owner of the data. A supervisory Personal Data Protection Board will be formed and operate under the Ministry of Justice. The board's seven members will be assigned by the Cabinet of ministers. Data classified as “state secrets” will not be sent to the Personal Data Protection Board.

Former President Abdullah Gül had the first version inspected by the State Supervisory Council (DDK). The draft was then criticised for permitting “profiling.” The DDK prepared a report that stated the proposal was not enough in its current form to effectively protect data.

Arif Tekdal/Ali Aslan Kılıç (Cihan/Today's Zaman)



 
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