SERBIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Vladimir Djeric, Katarina Radovic and Lena Petrovic, Mikijelj, Janković & Bogdanović
Software for Monitoring the Physical Development and Motor Development of Students The Ministry of Education of the Republic of Ser - bia planned to implement software for monitor - ing the physical development and motor skills of students in primary and secondary schools. It was called project ZDRAVITAS. The idea was to use ZDRAVITAS as a tool for the collection of such data in a digital form. Previously this data was collected by the teachers of physical and health education classes in paper form. The Ministry of Education announced that the project would start at the beginning of December 2024, however due to the harsh objections from the public and particularly parents, the project was postponed. Project ZDRAVITAS raised concerns about the security of the collected data and the benefits of the digitalisation of this data. The security meas - ures for the protection of the collected data were questioned, the possibility of data leakage was raised, the necessity of the collection of such data in a digital form was also put before the Ministry of Education. There were rumours that the software would collect the students’ health data. In response to strong public objection to the pro - ject, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection con - ducted an extraordinary inspection which con - firmed that the project was in line with the appli - cable data protection legislation. The Commissioner explained that the Ministry of Education established a legal basis for data processing and had implemented measures to protect personal data. The legal basis is the Law on the Fundamentals of the Education and
Upbringing System. The type of data that is to be collected is prescribed by this Law ie, name, date of birth and unique identification numbers, as well as physical measurements and perfor - mance metrics like height, weight and various fitness test results. Access to the data would be given to parents as registered users of the portal and designated personnel in schools. Before launching the portal, the Ministry con - ducted a data protection impact assessment to evaluate the impact of the planned data pro - cessing activities on personal data protection. They implemented technical, organisational and personnel measures to ensure an appropriate level of data security relative to the associated risks. Also, the Ministry of Education was co- operating with the Office for IT and eGovern - ment in order to ensure technical support for the smooth operation of the software. Their co- operation was regulated by the agreement on personal data processing. The Commissioner’s overall conclusion was that features of the ZDRAVITAS project did not repre - sent a threat to the protection of personal data of students who would be involved in it. Nonethe - less, the project had to be postponed because of the lack of trust and scepticism of the general public who were very suspicious about the pro - cessing and protection of health data. Spy Software Surveillance In December 2024, Amnesty International pub - lished a report “A Digital Prison: Surveillance and the Suppression of Civil Society in Serbia,” stating that the Serbian authorities were using advanced surveillance technologies against political activists, journalists and members of civil society.
382 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook