Media body criticise UK data retention law

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) Wednesday criticised the UK government's "hasty move " to rush through a controversial data retention law that will allow the government to have greater control of personal data of citizens and journalists.
"It is shocking that the UK government is pushing through a law that has just been invalidated by the European Court of Justice," said Ricardo Gutierrez, EFJ General Secretary, in a statement.
"We are extremely concerned that such an intrusive law will violate the privacy of citizens as well as those of journalists whose duty to protect confidential sources could be compromised," said Ricardo.
In April, the European Court of Justice declared that the European data retention law was invalid as it is not compatible with the human rights law concerning privacy and data protection. The EFJ has asked the European Commission to carry out an immediate review of the law and make necessary amendments to make it compatible with fundamental rights laws and to provide safeguards to journalists in fulfilling their duties to protect confidential sources.
The Brussels-based EFJ is the largest journalists' organisation in Europe representing more than 320,000 journalists in 60 journalists' associations across 40 countries in Europe.