MANS: Protecting personal data is a poor excuse for hiding the privileged

The number of criminal offenses prosecuted by the Montenegrin police, prosecutor's offices and courts, which include the so-called "illegal collection of personal data", is still at the level of a statistical error, which further confirms suspicions that the deletion of registration numbers was not aimed at better protection of citizens' data, it was announced today from the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS).

The Agency for the Protection of Personal Data has already, as they reminded, announced that since its establishment, they have not had a single complaint from any citizen or company regarding the publication of the identity number in publicly available registers, "and judging by the responses of other authorities, the misuse of this data so far were not even recorded".

MANS, after deleting the identity numbers from the publicly available registers due to the alleged abuse of that data, requested the institutions of the judiciary, the prosecution and the police for information on how many criminal offenses they have prosecuted in the last ten years, which include the illegal collection of personal data.

"The majority of courts that responded to our request announced that in the last ten years they have not had a single verdict for the criminal offense of 'illegal collection of personal data.' and Herceg Novi, while the courts in Podgorica, Nikšić, Cetinje and Ulcinj did not send answers. The basic court in Bar replied that in the past 10 years there were a total of four adjudicated cases, two of which ended with the suspension of the proceedings," said MANS- a.

The response of the Court of Appeal states that according to official records, there have been no judgments for illegal collection of personal data since the establishment of that court. We received the same answer from the High Court in Bijelo Polje, while the Supreme Court and the High Court in Podgorica referred us to the basic courts, and the situation is similar with the answers that MANS, as they say, received from the municipal departments of the Montenegrin Prosecutor's Office.

"We were informed by the Police Administration that its officers have not conducted a single investigation related to the criminal offense of "illegal collection of personal data" in the last 10 years, the statement added.