A private initiative in the European Parliament, ‘Written Declaration 29′, puts search privacy in peril by proposing to extend the European Data Retention Directive, already in place. The initiative, spanning several political parties, is proposed by Titziano Motti (Italy) and Anna Zaborska (Slovakia). The two are fighting to stop child pornography and online sexual harassment of children — a noble cause. Their means, however, are dubious, as they entail an intrusion into every citizen’s privacy.

The two Parliament members want to extend the European Data Retention Directive to include search engine data in order that the police may take swift action to stop child pornography online. Earlier this week, they declared that they have secured 325 votes already and are only 45 votes away from securing a vote in their favor.

Opponents claim that surveillance should not be the answer to most political problems and hold that there is no evidence that the suggested extension of the Data Retention directory would be effective in trapping paedophiles.

photo credit: fabbio