"Europol, the European Union’s (EU) police agency, operated a shadow data repository containing vast amounts of sensitive personal information and used it for years beyond its lawful scope, according to internal documents and whistleblower accounts.

Described by former officials as a “shadow IT environment”, the system lacked basic security or data protection safeguards required under EU law. It was used to store and analyse highly sensitive data – phone records, identity documents and geolocation information – including details of people who were not suspected of a crime.

This investigation by Solomon, Correctiv and Computer Weekly, based on leaked emails, internal reports and testimonies from former officials, found that in practice, the system became the agency’s primary environment for large-scale data analysis, despite lacking essential controls over who could access or modify the data.

For the first time in the agency’s history, several former high-ranking officials have come forward to reveal that the use of this shadow environment to store vast amounts of data – and the use of a clandestine intelligence tool known internally as the “Pressure Cooker” – had been concealed from the EU’s top privacy watchdog until 2019.

“They protect the law while breaking it,” one former senior official said of Europol."

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642525/They-protect-the-law-while-breaking-it-Inside-Europols-shadow-IT-system

#EU #Europol #DataProtection #Privacy

Envie de parler surveilance en bonne compagnie ?

Venez demain, mercredi 6 mai au Bar Commun. On se retrouve à partir de 19h !

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RightCon's organizers said Beijing was upset over over the inclusion of speakers from Taiwain.

https://www.404media.co/china-pressure-canceled-worlds-largest-digital-human-rights-conference/