Greece tops global privacy rankings

Greece leads the European Union and the world in privacy protection for its citizens, according to a recent study by Privacy International (PI), a London-based group that bills itself as a watchdog on surveillance and privacy invasions by governments and corporations.

PI considered a number of criteria in establishing its rankings, including such things as identity card and biometrics usage, visual surveillance in the public and private sectors, workplace monitoring, border surveillance, data sharing and constitutional protections.

In a summary of key findings, Europe in general has experienced a deterioration of privacy protection, according to PI. “Surveillance initiatives initiated by Brussels have caused a substantial decline in privacy across Europe, eroding protections even in those countries that have shown a traditionally high regard for privacy,” the report said. Older democracies in Europe fared more poorly, while the “newer democracies” generally scored better, with Romania, for example, coming in at number two after Greece. The UK was the only country in Europe to be shaded a sinister black on PI’s map of surveillance societies, putting it in the category of “endemic surveillance societies.” Germany, which topped the list as the best protector of privacy in 2006, fell to number seven in 2007, behind Romania, Portugal and Slovenia.

Greece’s top position in PI’s rankings is in large part due to the country’s powerful Data Protection Authority (DPA). As Max Snijder, head of the European Biometrics Forum, told me, the privacy issue is complex in Europe, as the DPAs of each country have varying degrees of power. In the Netherlands, for example, the DPA only has the power to advise, whereas in Greece, DPA rulings have the force of law.

The Greek DPA has used that power extensively when it comes to the deployment of CCTV or biometrics. As Security Systems News Europe reported last fall, the DPA ruled against a biometrics installation at a private company which wanted to use its fingerprint system not only for security, but for employee time and attendance. And, at the end of last year, in a case that garnered international attention, the head of Greece’s DPA, Dimitris Gourgourakis, resigned over the government’s use of traffic cameras to monitor public demonstrations. His resignation followed a long-running dispute over the continued use of surveillance cameras installed for the 2004 Athens Olympics, which were originally supposed to be deactivated after the Games.