Hundreds of police officers have been sacked or forced to resign after breaching data protection laws over the last five years.
One of the most important pieces of legislation wending its way through the European Parliament concerns data protection. Because of its potential impact on major US companies like Google and Facebook, this has become one of the most fought-over proposals in the history of the EU, with lobbyists apparently writing large chunks of suggested amendments more favorable to online services.
Search and technology giant Google has been fined €145,000 by the Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information for illegally accessing and recording data from unencrypted WiFi networks in the country with its Street View vehicles.