The Polish digital rights group Panoptykon Foundation recently published harrowing findings regarding abuses of Poland’s mandatory data retention law. Using a Freedom of Information Act request, Panoptykon obtained documents that reveal that in 2011, Polish authorities requested users’ traffic data retained by telcos and ISPs over 1.85 million times — half a million times more than in 2010. These findings underscore fundamental flaws in the Polish mandatory data retention law that was fast-tracked in legislation without public debate in 2009.

This paper is aims to give a brief overview of the following issues: (i) Polish data retention regime and its drawbacks; (ii) the use of data retention in practice and available
data on the subject; (iii) campaign run by the Panoptykon Foundation over last two years; and (iv) political shifts that occurred in Poland.

AI systems will soon determine our rights and freedoms, shape our economic situation and physical wellbeing, affect market behaviour and natural environment. With the hype for ‘problem-solving’ AI, claims for (more) accountability in this field are gaining urgency. Summary of the IGF 2020 session: Aiming for AI explainability: lessons from the field.

Algorithmic decision-making can carry more weight than you might expect. While algorithms do innocuous or helpful things like changing the traffic signals when you approach an intersection, they also decide what content to show in your social media feed. There are also algorithms that assist real people in deciding whether you can get a mortgage, get into a particular university or qualify for insurance. How does it work? Katarzyna Szymielewicz explains three layers of digital profile in the video.

Data retention obligation will not be further extended in Polish law on electronic communication. However, the current, unlawful scope of telecommunication data retention remains unchanged. Our advocacy effort proved successful.