However, when State investigative agencies conduct interception of an
Internet line, all the data travelling through that line, including
information on its unspecified users, are captured in the form of packets
and transmitted intact to State investigative agencies. Thus, a wider
range of data is collected through such packet interception by State
investigative agencies than through other communication-restriction
measures. Since the general public mostly shares one Internet line, the
communications data not only of a suspect or a person under investigation
but also of all the users sharing that line are collected and retained by
State investigative agencies during the execution of interception, which
goes beyond the scope of the permission granted by the court.
Hence, there is a strong need for supervisory or regulatory legal
measures to ascertain whether State investigative agencies have not
collected or retained information of a third party or information
irrelevant to the criminal investigation during and after the execution of
interception, and whether they have used and processed data in
accordance with the original authorized purpose and scope of such acts.
Nevertheless, the Act at Issue does not provide for any procedure for
processing the vast amount of data collected through interception by
State investigative agencies, apart from Article 11, which imposes a
confidentiality obligation to related public officials or former public
officials, and Article 12, which restricts the use of data acquired through
communication-restriction measures.
Under Article 9-2 of the Act at Issue, the prosecutor should notify
telecommunications subscribers of the communication-restriction
measures executed but should not notify the subscriber of the grounds
for such measures. Further, if the investigation is prolonged or when the
prosecutor determines to suspend an indictment, there is no way for the
subscriber to be informed of the above fact, making it all the more
difficult to have objective and ex-post control. Additionally, under
Article 12 Item 1 of the Act at Issue, the contents of telecommunications
acquired through interception could be used to investigate, prosecute, or
prevent crimes related to the crimes over which the court authorized the
- 4 -