The Law passed on 23 September envisaged the introduction of biometric cards for 20 types of documents. The Visa Facilitation Action Plan only requires biometric chips for passports.

Serhiy Leshchenko, journalist from Ukrainska Pravda has made public recordings which confirm the shocking accusations he made in an article earlier this week regarding Party of the Regions illegal gathering of information about journalists, their political views, etc

Director of the Media Law Institute, Taras Shevchenko’s response to the report in Ukrainska Pravda that members of the Party of the Regions are gathering confidential information about journalists is unequivocal. Such behaviour is in clear breach of the law

If the form allegedly sent around is not a fake, then this time their aim would seem to be specifically journalists, with information sought about the political preferences of representatives of the media.

The Verkhovna Rada has passed as a base a document which would introduce biometric information in passports

Following statements from the head of the Russian Microsoft office that he’d be happy to divulge Skype encryption codes to the FSB and then embarrassed denials, Andrei Soldatov warns that the FSB has no intention of backing down and wants full access

Human rights groups are concerned and warn that in Ukraine information from biometric passports could end up used by criminals

The new Law on Personal Data Protection is already showing its fangs, with employees effectively being forced to consent to unlimited retention and use of even the most sensitive personal information

This may be one of the first, but unlikely to be the last idiotic consequence of the new Law on Personal Data Protection, in force since 1 January this year

The instruction sent out by the Ministry of Internal Affairs on obtaining information about people receiving replacement therapy is in serious breach of the Ukrainian Constitution and legislation

Ukrainian entrepreneurs and human rights activists warn that according to the new Law on Personal Data Protection, any information about a person can fall under State control, and that this will lead to a greater number of checks of enterprises and, as a result, to an increase in corruption

The Law on Personal Data Protection, passed in June 2010, has come into force and human rights groups continue to warn of its grave consequences for freedom of speech and of access to information

The Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union has received a document which shows that the President’s Administration is gathering information from around the entire country about, among other things, the political views of those in all leading positions

A Security Service officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, has said that Intertelecom indeed refused to install an automated system of communications interception, but said that it was probably the only company to have done so (and that a criminal case had been found against them over something else)

The mobile operator Intertelecom has stated that the Security Service [SBU] demanded that it install an automated system for intercepting information from communication channels

In his article “Privacy’s triumphant move”, Dmytro Chopovsky from the Institute for Mass Information analyzes the Law on Personal Data Protection recently signed into law by the President despite calls from business, human rights and media organizations. His assessment is equally damning

Despite calls from human rights, media and business groups, the President yesterday signed into law the potentially disastrous Law on Personal Data Protection

The Association of Ukrainian Banks is asking President to use his power of veto over Law No. 2273 passed on 1 June this year due to its non-compliance with international standards and extremely negative consequences for the country’s economy.

According to Volodymyr Yavorsky, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, “forced treatment, in the given case, against alcoholic inebriation, is not justified and is an unwarranted intrusion into a person’s private life

The Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union is convinced that the bill “On Personal Data Protection” does not meet European standards and could significantly jeopardize freedom of speech in Ukraine. It can therefore not be considered to fulfil Ukraine’s international obligations.