Re: [Sks-devel] keyserver.pramberger.at terminating

[cbuckingham]

Hello list members.

I read the closing of keyserver.pramberger.at with interest.

What everyone fails to realise is that in the EU, Data Protection 
Laws ONLY protect PERSONALLY INDENTIFYING DATA.  In a ruling of the 
European Court and various EU countries (as well as the USA), e-
mail addresses and encryption keys ARE NOT personally indentifying 
data, full stop.  I ran into such personal data questions almost 
daily as consultant for several EU International Banks while 
administering firewalls and proxy servers so have been involved in 
data protection closely.

Personal data in the EU means photos, bank accounts, home address, 
work address, wages, telephone numbers, some criminal records, 
specific family details and internet usage habits.

>From this it is very clear that the only part of an sks entry that 
"could" infringe Data Protections Laws is an uploaded photo. I say 
"could", because many people do not associate their full names with 
a key. (i.e. using initials for first or middle names)

Furthermore, if it were the desire of someone to remove their photo 
from the sks DB, under EU DP Laws, they must do so in writing.   
Writing DOES NOT include notification by e-mail unless the e-mail 
is signed with the appropriate key, but even this is not acceptable 
in some countries.  FAX is not an acceptable notification method in 
various EU countries.

My advice to the Pramberger crew is see what the laws are in 
Austria regarding legal written notifications (e-mails,FAX,post). 
This is something a Solicitor will be able to tell you very 
quickly. 

Cheers,
CB