- Europe's top court ruled this week that governments cannot conduct limitless mass surveillance on their citizens.
- The ruling treads the right line between privacy and national security, experts told Business Insider.
- The ruling was a response to three cases brought by privacy organizations, who argued against indiscriminate gathering and retention of mobile and internet data.
- Baroness Helena Kennedy QC said the ruling was "an important step in challenging the massive gathering of private data on individuals without their informed consent."
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Europe's clampdown on state surveillance is "an important step in challenging massive gathering of private data", an influential international legal body told Business Insider.
On Tuesday, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that EU countries cannot collect and store mass mobile and internet data on citizens.
Governments that demand that internet and phone providers carry out "general and indiscriminate transmission" of data will contradict EU law, the court ruled.
The ruling limits the amount a government can spy on citizens.
Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, director of the International Bar Association's (IBA) Institution of Human Rights, said: "It is an important step in challenging the massive gathering of private data on individuals without their informed consent."
The IBA is an association of leading legal professionals from across the world.
Baroness Kennedy added: "Indiscriminate data gathering of the kind the court was considering should concern all of us. Civil liberties must be guarded with vigilance and each new generation has to learn why privacy is something human beings need in order to thrive."
According to the ruling, states will still be able to carry out bulk surveillance practices when facing "a serious threat to national security", the ruling said. But there must be safeguards for privacy.
Dr Lukasz Olejnik, an independent privacy researcher and consultant, described the ECJ's "trade off" between individual privacy and national security as "sound".
"This is about what the EU member states may or may not do in terms of surveillance." Dr Olejnik said. "The ECJ has a strong track record in upholding the EU privacy laws."
An important ruling for Europe
In the ruling, the ECJ considered cases from France, Belgium and Britain together, where campaigners had challenged state surveillance practices.
Privacy International, a British organization, challenged data retention practices by the UK agencies MI5, MI6 and GCHQ in a British case in 2015, saying they violated EU privacy laws. The Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which rules on British surveillance practices, referred the case to the ECJ.
The UK has since reviewed its surveillance practices under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016.
However, Caroline Wilson Palow, legal director of the charity, believes the ruling will have widespread repercussions.
She told Business Insider: "It's really important for Europe. Many other countries will have similar surveillance systems in place even though this ruling was for Belgium, France, and the UK."
She said: "Whenever governments engage with data held by private companies, they will have to respect fundamental privacy rights."
On Tuesday, French newspaper Le Monde reported that French intelligence services see the ruling as a "disaster" that could "seriously hamper" their enquiries.
In the UK, a Home Office spokesperson said: "The judgement has no direct impact on the work of our security and intelligence services as it will now be referred back to UK courts for their interpretation."
However, the Home Office made clear to Business Insider that "the Government maintains that bulk capabilities are essential to the protection of the national security of the UK."
It welcomed the fact that governments will still be allowed to gather "bulk communications data" in some circumstances under the ruling.
Baroness Kennedy QC, who is also a Labour peer in the House of Lords, sees a need for continued protection of personal data: "Data is now the most valuable commodity in the world," she said. "More than oil or gold. It is time the world got wise and the companies were made accountable."