The fight against crime and/or the protection of privacy: a thorny debate!1

This article analyses a recent legislative provision adopted by the Belgian legislator imposing on all communication service providers the requirement that they retain traffic data for a minimum period of 12 months, in addition to the recent European debates about Echelon and traffic data retention in the light of the requirements of Article 8 of the Council of Europe Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The equilibrium between state security requirements and privacy protection imperatives leads the proposal of a certain number of limitations, as regards to cyber‐surveillance by governmental authorities in order to maintain the efficient functioning of our democracies.