Erik Strand, 13.03.2025
In an article in the Danish newspaper Berlingste Tidende, one can read that the Danish think tank Justitia warns about an outline of a new law presented by Denmark’s Minister of Justice, Peter Hummegaard (S). Mikele Schultz-Knudsen, chief consultant for the juridical think tank Justitia, says that “They want to create a large data center where PET can sit and monitor what is happening in Danish society.” PET, “The Police’s Intelligence service”, is a Danish intelligence bureau.
The proposal is justified by the need to give PET a tool to monitor the growth og extremism and threats towards Denmark. Mikele Schultz-Knudsen says the following regarding the dangers of the proposal:
“But at the same time, the proposal states that PET can also use the data to find specific people and investigate them, and that’s where things start to get a little muddy about what they can actually use this data for.”
He continues that the proposed law will give PET the power to collect data from all available sources, including what Danes write in social media. He warns that the proposed law can lead to self censorship, as Danes might consider that PET follows what they write. The law will also give PET access to all registers belonging to Danish authorities, like the tax office. PET will also get access to data that foreign authorities might have collected on Danish citizens.
“That’s a lot of data. And if you end up linking it to a person, you’ll be able to say a lot about that person,” Mikele Schultz-Knudsen says. All the data shal be stored in a “separate environment in addition to the general rules in the PET Act”, as the proposed law states. The data can be stored for up to 20 years. Justitia emphasize this as a problematic part of the proposal, as the proposal includes the possibility to circumvent “general principles of administrative law” regarding the handling of personal data.
Justitia’s chief consultant points at the following difference between current danish law and the proposal:
“In the past, it was mostly people who were interested in researching for one reason or another that data was collected about. Now it risks becoming all of us.”
Fampo 