Thread by @AdamWagner1

1/ BIG JUDGMENT!
European Court of Human Rights rediscovers its mojo and disagrees with UK Supreme Court over police retaining records of "domestic extremists" indefinitely. Case of 94-year-old John Catt hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-1894…

2/ This is an important judgment and will lead to the UK police having to think again about the systems they use to retain information about protesters. The judgment is detailed and well-reasoned - not just rehearsing of other judgments (as you sometimes see in the ECtHR)

3/ Court said whilst it is legitimate for police to sometimes retain records of protesters (e.g. Catt was a non-violent protester but involved in org where people were sometimes violent) there is a "heightened level of protection" for information on people's political activities

4/ In this case there should have been a system for automatic deletion or at least more rigorous scrutiny of why records of protests continue to be kept.

5/ In terms of safeguards, the Court's approach is almost GDPR-like, with the importance of being able to request for data to be destroyed and if it isn't having a clear explanation of why it is being retained. Important stuff.

6/ Here is the (as usual) very useful court press release hudoc.echr.coe.int/app/conversion…

7/ The European Court of Human Rights has been a bit timid since the Coalition Government (really the Tories) started throwing it serious shade but hopefully this is the start of it becoming a little more assertive