On Thursday, June 7, the famous Vienna Ringstraße was partially blocked for about an hour as the 100-150 participants of a demonstration organized by the Austrian Pirate URL walked along it to call out against planned data retention legislation in Austria which would implement a European Union (EU) directive. On data retention The EU directiveEuropean Data Retention Directive calls for the preservation of all call detail records for at least 6 months by all member states. This would mean that all information about who communicated with whom and when would have to be saved by telecommunication companies, to be available to the authorities in case the data is needed for an investigation. Critics of data retention argue that it is an undue intrusion into the privacy of citizens and a violation of the presumption of innocence. Supporters of data retention highlight the use of data retention in crime-fighting, especially against terrorists and paedophiles. The demonstration 250px|The participants blocking Ringstraße. The demonstration started at 7:00 p.m. local time in front of the University of Vienna . By then, supporters from a preceding demonstration against the G8 Summit in Germany, from the Austrian Green Party Youth, the Green and Alternative Students (German Wikipedia), the Austrian Communist Party, the Austrian Communist Students (German Wikipedia) and Monochrom , an artist group had gathered to march towards the Ministry for Traffic, Infrastructure and Technology, which is supposed to implement data retention. 250px|Florian Hufsky (third from the left) and Rickard Falkvinge (fourth from the left) addressing the crowd. When the crowd reached the Ministry, Florian Hufsky, the speaker of the Austrian Pirate Party and Rickard Falkvinge , the founder and leader of the Swedish Pirate Party , addressed the participants. Hufsky thanked all supporters and stressed the Pirate Parties' stance on data retention: "It is an effort to strip people of their civil liberties." (Video in German) Falkvinge seconded Hufsky, saying "We are taking a stand, and we are not going to let that happen.". He added that European Pirate Parties are "fighting a harsh and powerful enemy. [...] We will not let our liberties be taken away without a fight!" Falkvinge stressed international cooperation and that the participants of the demonstration should "remember that [they] are part of something big". Category:Austria Category: Euro
On Thursday, June 7, the famous Vienna was partially blocked for about an hour as the 100-150 participants of a demonstration organized by the Austrian Pirate URL walked along it to call out against planned legislation in Austria which would implement a (EU) directive. On data retention The EU directiveEuropean Data Retention Directive calls for the preservation of all for at least 6 months by all member states. This would mean that all information about who communicated with whom and when would have to be saved by telecommunication companies, to be available to the authorities in case the data is needed for an investigation. Critics of data retention argue that it is an undue intrusion into the privacy of citizens and a violation of the presumption of innocence. Supporters of data retention highlight the use of data retention in crime-fighting, especially against terrorists and paedophiles. The demonstration 250px|The participants blocking Ringstraße. The demonstration started at 7:00 p.m. local time in front of the . By then, supporters from a preceding demonstration against the in Germany, from the Youth, the (German Wikipedia), the , the (German Wikipedia) and , an artist group had gathered to march towards the Ministry for Traffic, Infrastructure and Technology, which is supposed to implement data retention. 250px|Florian Hufsky (third from the left) and Rickard Falkvinge (fourth from the left) addressing the crowd. When the crowd reached the Ministry, Florian Hufsky, the speaker of the Austrian Pirate Party and , the founder and leader of the , addressed the participants. Hufsky thanked all supporters and stressed the Pirate Parties' stance on data retention: "It is an effort to strip people of their civil liberties." (Video in German) Falkvinge seconded Hufsky, saying "We are taking a stand, and we are not going to let that happen.". He added that European Pirate Parties are "fighting a harsh and powerful enemy. [...] We will not let our liberties be taken away without a fight!" Falkvinge stressed international cooperation and that the participants of the demonstration should "remember that [they] are part of something big". Category:Austria Category: Europe Category
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Ringstraße
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data retention
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European Union
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call detail records
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University of Vienna
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G8 Summit
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Austrian Green Party
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Green and Alternative Students
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Austrian Communist Party, the Austrian Communist Students
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Monochrom
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Rickard Falkvinge
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Swedish Pirate Party
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Euro
Europe Category