President Says Romanians Are Reluctant To Sensitive Data Storage

The head of state explained that, at the recommendation of the European Union, Romania passed a controversial law compelling telecom operators to store data on people's calls, emails and short messages, which, he added, stirred disputes and controversies and was ultimately declared unconstitutional.

"It is probably more difficult to explain to people of former communist countries why these data must be stored and used by authorities if necessary," Basescu said.

Basescu also pointed out that the harsh ruling methods used by former communist regimes caused Romanians, as well as people in other former communist countries, to be more reluctant to having sensitive data stored.

He also stressed Romanians fear what the authorities might do with the information stored, considering their harsh day-to-day living over the past 50 years.

Early October 2009, Romania's Constitutional Court ruled unconstitutional the law compelling telecom operators to store data on people's calls, emails and short messages and provide them to investigators on request.

The law was challenged before the Constitutional Court by an NGO which argued the law infringes article 28 of Romania's Constitution, which guarantees the secrecy of correspondence.

Several other NGOs called on the ombudsman to notify the Constitutional Court regarding this law, which they say breaches citizens' fundamental rights and liberties.

The Romanian government decided in March to adopt by the end of the year a government decision setting the application norms for the law, to have the norms enforced by end January 2010, at the latest.

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