Blog – Tracy Project

TRACY Blog

Meet the Partners

Blog Articles

Tell us about the role of your company in this project.

Timelex is a boutique law firm specialised in the legal aspects of information technology (IT), privacy & data protection (GDPR), intellectual property as well as media & electronic communications. We act as a legal and ethical expert to the project, providing input in the design phase, during development and interpretation as well as with regard to future implementation.

Can you give an update about the latest developments?

Most importantly, we have recently finalised the first draft of the Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) to ensure that all activities under TRACY comply with data protection by design and by default. It is important that the legal-ethical assessment is an active part of the development process to ensure project’s compliance.

What are your company’s next steps in the project, in relation to the pilot site?

We will continue to monitor the legal and ethical issues throughout the project regarding the retention and processing of non-content data as well as their production, exchange, access, and overall usage. Additionally, a Data Management Plan will be developed and maintained, which will contain information related to the types and other attributes of data the project will generate/collect, the data standards to be used, and how partners might exploit the data, thus setting robust procedures and supporting GDPR compliance.

TRACY Common Model: From Chaos to Clarity

(By PT – Michaela Antonopoulou) The Challenge In today’s data-driven landscape, collecting information is just the beginning. The real challenge begins when that data comes from multiple sources, each with its own format, structure, and level of completeness. Integrating this fragmented data manually is not only time-consuming but also prone …

Towards a Harmonized EU Framework for Data Retention and Access

(Βy TIMELEX – Seliha Buelens) TRACY uses a stream of (near) real-time non-content data (such as device movement patterns) to track devices present at crime scenes and follow their trajectories after the facts. It supports suspect identification when combined with other evidence and can also be used post-incident to reconstruct …

ProtectEU: A Strategic Boost for Internal Security — What It Means for Projects Like TRACY

(by PT – Nikos Avgerinos) On April 1st, 2025, the European Commission unveiled the ProtectEU Internal Security Strategy, charting a clear path for a stronger and more coordinated approach to internal security across the EU. Against a backdrop of complex threats — from organised crime and terrorism to hybrid and …

Accessing Non-Content Telecom Data

(by COSMOTE – Konstantinos Filis) The TRACY project faced the challenge of accessing, in an automated way and without violating subscriber privacy regulations, non-content mobile telecommunications data, both subscriber and network-related, including the subscriber number, the type, date, time and duration of a call, as well as the user location …

What is the EU SDSI and how can TRACY contribute?

(By PT – Nikos Avgerinos) The European Security Data Space for Innovation (EU SDSI) is recognized as the cornerstone for implementing the European Data Strategy in the security domain, aiming at Europe’s data sovereignty, and to increase trust in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by Law Enforcement. Over the …

Mobile subscribers’ personal data retention – The case of COSMOTE (OTE), Greece

(By COSMOTE – Konstantinos Filis) Subscribers’ personal data is kept for as long as it is necessary to serve the purpose for which it was collected or in cases where the retention period is provided by applicable law, for the period provided by the law. Upon expiration of the retention …

The EU Security Union Strategy and the TRACY Project

(By KEMEA – Skrekas Apostolos) The contemporary security landscape, regarding the threat stemming from terrorism and organized crime, reveals a complex variety of challenges, also determined by a tumultuous international environment. Within this context, it is worth mentioning that these dynamic threats require continuous adjustments to security policy and decisive …

AI Act Impact on LEAs and TRACY

(By TIMELEX – Seliha Buelens) The EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) is a regulation introduced by the European Union to regulate artificial intelligence systems and ensure their safe, ethical and transparent use within its Member States. It aims to foster innovation and AI competitiveness within the EU, all while …

The Value of Simulated and Synthetic Data

(By PT – Michaela Antonopoulou) Data is the cornerstone of modern technology, but what happens when actual data is unavailable due to privacy or other practical concerns? This is where simulated and synthetic data shine and that is the case with TRACY’s simulator (TSIM) component. TSIM simulates human and vehicle …

Unlocking Efficiency with Standardized Data Preprocessing and Observability

(By PT – Michaela Antonopoulou) Data preprocessing is often the most challenging step in any data-driven project, especially when dealing with inhomogeneous data. LEA crime investigation data comes in various formats, structures, and quality levels, requiring complex data cleaning and transformation processes. The above process can be further complicated by …