The website ettevaatust.ee, which published the names of individuals convicted of sexual and violent crimes, has ceased operations in Estonia. The resource was closed at the request of the Data Protection Inspectorate.
On Tuesday, the website ettevaatust.ee, which published personal data of individuals convicted of sexual and violent crimes, was blocked in Estonia.
The resource was launched in March at the initiative of blogger and content creator Mallukas. The site collected the names of individuals mentioned in court decisions related to the respective criminal cases.
Almost immediately after its launch, the project sparked widespread public debate. The Data Protection Inspectorate (AKI) and Minister of Justice Liisa Pakosta stated that such a website violates the requirements of personal data protection legislation.
In June, AKI ordered the non-profit association ETTEVAATUST to cease publishing personal data contained in court decisions. The agency concluded that the site effectively functions as a private registry of convicted individuals, the creation of which is not permitted without special state authority.
The Inspectorate referred to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which allows the maintenance of registries of criminal convictions only under the supervision of official state authorities.
In other words, the claims were not about the content of court decisions but about the creation of a separate publicly accessible database with personal information based on them.
After receiving the order, the website continued to be a subject of disputes. In June, Mallukas and Thomas Märtin Legrant announced that they had resigned from the board of the ETTEVAATUST association.
Mallukas herself criticized the position of the Data Protection Inspectorate at that time. According to her, all published information was taken from court decisions, so she disagreed with the claims regarding the inaccuracy of the website's content.
The closure of ettevaatust.ee once again raised the discussion in Estonia about where the line is drawn between public interest, the citizens' right to know about crimes, and the requirements of personal data protection legislation.
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