Protecting Privacy Against the Police in the European Union: The Data Retention Directive

This essay examines the European Union\u27s new turn towards protecting personal data against the police. The first part explores the developments that have given rise to these policies: the dramatic possibilities of today\u27s digital technologies for the police and the intensification of police cooperation in the European Union following the terrorist attacks in New York, Madrid, and London. The second part analyzes the piece of legislation with the most significant data protection ramifications to be enacted at the time of this writing: the Data Retention Directive. The essay concludes with some thoughts on how the largely positive rights experience of the Data Retention Directive can inform the protection of other, classic liberal rights in the rapidly growing domain of European cooperation on fighting crime