[…] In a judgment delivered on Tuesday, the ECJ, Europe’s highest court, declared that the [data retention] directive is « invalid » because it « interferes in a particularly serious manner with the fundamental rights to respect for private life and to the protection of personal data. »
The decision, following requests from the Irish and Austrian courts, is a blow to Theresa May’s plans to push through a data retention scheme which would collect and store data from UK citizens’ internet and phone use for up to 12 months for later examination.
[…] European governments will now have to to draft new legislation on data scrutiny to help prevent serious crimes such as terrorism, while also narrowing the law’s scope to conform with the verdict.
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/08/eu-court-overturns-law-snoopers-charter-data-phones-isps