Abstract
Technological development also brings an increase in possible infringements into privacy, including their new forms. In particular, collecting and processing of numerous categories of personal data represents a very significant interference with privacy; in many cases, these infringements are in fact directly imposed by legal regulations.
The intended purpose of such personal data processing is often fight against terrorism and preventing and combating crime generally, but also for example facilitation and supervision of tax collection. Many of these privacy infringements have been subject to a scrutiny of the Court of Justice of the EU or the European Court of Human Rights.
In other cases, national courts of the EU member states have assessed the impact of these data collecting cases on the fundamental human rights. This paper identifies the most significant privacy infringements by public authorities and briefly describes their stated purpose, the extent of the processing and the authorized authorities.