Peter Schaar, who has served as Germany’s federal data protection commissioner for the last 10 years, has announced he will be retiring, Deutsche Welle reports. Schaar has been an outspoken critic of the blanket-expansion of video surveillance, the anti-terror database, the surveillance of personal computers and the SWIFT agreement between the U.S. and EU. So far, no successor has been named to replace Schaar, who will serve until 17 December. He also recently said that the “issue of data protection is more strongly anchored in public debate than it was 10 years ago.” Schaar will continue to serve as chairman of the European Academy for Freedom of Information and Data Protection.
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