Zombies sketch.Wikicommons/Shannon Hayward. Some rights reserved.I trust every reader is familiar with the image of a zombie; a malformed, reanimated corpse with terrifying features, chasing down unsuspected people to drag them into its miserable semi-existence. After a few good scares, usually the story ends with someone brave enough to figure out its weakness and destroy it.
This article focuses on an entirely different – but equally frightening– kind of zombie, namely the forthcoming Directive regulating the use of PNR data for law enforcement purposes; namely a system whereby airlines flying into the EU (and perhaps those flying on intra-EU flights) provide to state authorities a wide range of personal data on all their passengers for security purposes.
I will first outline the historical background behind the instrument; then explain its key provisions, and examine the main fundamental rights challenges, in particular those related to privacy and free movement. As for the reason why a piece of EU legislation is paralleling a fictional creature, I guess you will have to keep on reading to find out.
