The round table “Privacy in Macedonia”, organized by the Metamorphosis Foundation took place on June 6, 2010 in the premises of the Economic Chamber of Macedonia.

Speakers at the roundtable were Mr. Tito Petkovski, MP and chairman of the Committee on Transport, Communications and Environment (Assembly of RM), Ms. Valentina Dimkovska from the Directorate for Personal Data Protection of the Republic of Macedonia, Jovan Jovcheski PhD., University American College, Skopje and Mr. Filip Stojanovski from the Metamorphosis Foundation.

The Chairman of the Committee on Transport, Communications and Environment, Mr. Tito Petkovski, noted that with this law we can not be protected from the organs of the authorities and that it is removing the formal-legal obstacles, thus enabling the government to eavesdrop. He emphasized that such a law does not exist in other parts of Europe and that if the public opinion has any influence on the adoption of laws, such absurdities would not occur.

The representative from the Directorate for Personal Data Protection of the Republic of Macedonia, Ms. Valentina Dimkovska stated that as an independent state authority the agency is affected by this bill and that in the opinion which they have submitted to the Parliament on March 3 and June 3, 2010, they are suggesting provisions to be added to the bill in order to comply with Directive 2009/136/EC, as well as a recommendation for application of the minimum data retention period, which is the most common practice in the EU. She pointed out that the Directorate for Personal Data Protection should be consulted about all laws related to personal data protection before they enter parliamentary procedure.

As a long-time worker in this field, Jovan Jovcheski PhD. said that it is too optimistic to expect that the government will not make any changes to the law and that it would not allow modifications. He explained that every government wishes to have the monopoly over information, but that this law will not be accepted by Europe and the court in Strasbourg. Presenting the numerous shortcomings of the proposal, Jovcheski concluded that “there is no legal possibility for this law to be adopted in a decent form” and it is therefore better to completely withdraw it and the government should take its time to propose a completely new text, in accordance with the existing legal norms, international agreements and obligations of Macedonia as an EU candidate country.

Metamorphosis representative Filip Stojanovski briefly presented the draft report on privacy online in 2009, inviting participants to contribute to its completion. According to the report, the legal framework which is well established with the Law on personal data protection is actually jeopardized with non-transparent amendments to other laws, and good practices and privacy policies are not employed enough in the Macedonian web space, resulting in a low level of trust among users. In addition, he presented the position of Metamorphosis that the proposed amendments to the Law on Electronic Communications are unconstitutional and undemocratic.

During the discussion, Mr. Darko Buldioski from the New Media Center highlighted the need for publishing privacy policy templates that will enable the easier creation of such documents, which is the next step to be taken by Metamorphosis and DPDP following the conclusions of the report. He also stated that the use of IP addresses to track criminals is limiting if they are located abroad.

The representative of Transparency Macedonia Ms. Ana Janevska-Delova presented the results of the expert analysis published by this organization; the proposed amendments are unconstitutional and circumvent the previously established legal norms by the Law on Criminal Procedure, Law on Interception of Communications and the Law on Personal Data Protection, as well as the international legal norms and judicial practice of the European Court of Strasbourg.

The author of the blog Volan, Mr. Aleksandar Dimitrijevic drew further attention to the more and more frequent phishing frauds and pointed out that several cases of data abuse did not get a court epilogue, including the case when a CD with a complete telephone directory could be purchased for 100 MKD at the markets. He also reminded that political parties have the citizens’ data, which is evident because they are sending them greeting cards to their home addresses.

In addition, Mr. Petkovski presented an opinion that the major political parties in Macedonia have no interest in introducing an actual depoliticized control over eavesdropping, and that’s why when he offered in the Assembly to present evidence that some parties are using their own eavesdropping equipment, he was ignored and an appropriate survey committee was not formed. He called for a greater citizen participation and suggested that the politicians are actually responsive to issues for which citizens and NGOs are launching public initiatives and campaigns.

The representative of the IT.com.mk portal, Mr. Viktor Arsovski addressed the problem of wiretapping without court order and without the provider being informed, a problem associated with the amendments enabling the MOI to have direct access to traffic data. Jovancheski explained that these changes are “unprecedented” since they are violating the principle of surveillance only with a court order. There is not even a possibility for court protection if someone is wiretapped, because he will not be able to prove it in court. If a citizen illegally obtains data from the Ministry of Interior, he will be accused of unauthorized intrusion.

Klik.mk editor Ms. Julijana Prckovska suggested that wiretapping in itself does not only have negative consequences, and that its socially useful functions as a means of combating crime should not be forgotten, but only under the condition that they are strictly controlled.

As a conclusion, participants agreed that the basic information from the debate should be disseminated as far as possible, especially to the MPs and other decision makers, in order to encourage and expand the debate on issues from this area, which would contribute to the adoption of quality regulations. As a first step, the representatives of Metamorphosis announced the opening of a mailing list privatnost(at)metamorphosis.org.mk for information and coordination. All parties interested in joining this list can write to: filipn(at)metamorphosis.org.mk.

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