The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that a photographer breached a baby’s right to privacy by taking a picture of the baby without permission from the parents.

The case happened in Greece, where a newly born baby was put into a sterile unit after its birth. The hospital also operated a commercial service which took a photograph of the baby. The parents objected and demanded the negatives be handed over to them. When the hospital refused, the parents took the case to court. The Greek court refused to hear the case and the parents took the case to the ECHR.

In early February, the ECHR ruled that taking the photograph breached the child’s right to a private life as guaranteed by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The ruling is interesting because it is part of a larger trend, at least as far as the European courts are concerned.

In Bulgaria, recent attempts to implement the European Data Retention Directive avoided any mention of Article 8 or any reference to rights under that article, even though the EU directive explicit says the rights under Article 8 should be protected.

The Bulgarian Government has shown they are much better at wielding the axe of suppression. And what better weapon to use there than our good old friend National Security?

And as long as the selection criteria for staff at the State Agency for National Security (SANS) include the requirement for previous work experience in the field inside Bulgaria (i.e. State Security pre-89), politicians can trust there is an agency they can rely on to get the job done.

All that needs to be done is to make clear it is a matter of National Security.

Interested in publishing assorted details about the private lives of those in power? We’ll send SANS and have you shut down.

Want to know whether a prime minister has dual nationality and is therefore illegally in office? You can’t. Instead, you’ll get investigated.

A Czech artist made an artwork that represents Bulgaria as a public toilet? - This is where there was as slight pause; could art really be a matter of National Security?

The long or short of it is clear: where the privacy of those in power is concerned, it is ensured as a matter of National Security. For everything else, there is a black cloth.

A sure-fire way to make Bulgaria one of the ECHR’s most frequent defendants for years and years to come.