Government plans to force Internet service providers (ISPs) to
store and retrieve e-mail and Web traffic for the police and other
government agencies will impose enormous costs on the industry, a
cross-party group of MPs heard this week.
ISPs told the All Party Internet Group that the costs of buying and
running the IT systems needed to store and manage Internet traffic
data would be far in excess of the compensation offered by the
Government.
Although current proposals for companies to store and retrieve
Internet traffic for up to one year are voluntary, firms that
ignore the rules could face legal action if proposals to change the
legislation are made law.
ISP AOL revealed it had already spent $40m (£25m) on systems to
retain its customers' data for three months, with storage costs
adding an additional $40m a year.
This alone adds up to more than the £20m the UK Government is
offering the whole of the ISP industry to fund the retention scheme
over five years, MPs were told.
Industry experts have warned that the Government regulations will
force ISPs to increase their charges to cover their compliance
costs.
Proposals by law enforcement agencies to increase the retention
period to 12 months would impose a heavier financial burden, said
Camille De Stempel, AOL's public policy director.
"We would store IP addresses for around three months. That is
something that suits our business, the security of our customers
and law enforcement. Adding nine months is adding an enormous
cost," she said.
Thus is a smaller ISP that will be affected by the regulations. It
told MPs that its IT systems were capable of storing e-mail data
for only two days to provide a back-up against system failures.
A dedicated system for storing data for law enforcement for a year
would need a significant investment in technology and security,
said Clive Feather, technology expert for the company.
ISPs called for the Government to abandon plans for a voluntary
data retention code in favour of a compulsory scheme that would
give the industry protection against challenges from its customers
under data protection and human rights laws.
"A lot of people thought it should be voluntary but people are
coming around to the idea of mandatory because it makes things
simple. If ordered to disclose, then data protection would not
apply," said Feather.
Data proposals
- The Government and police want ISPs to store e-mail and Web
traffic for 12 months
- The ISP industry is being offered £20m over five years to cover
the additional costs
- Service provider AOL has already spent $40m (£25m) to retain
its customers' data and expects to spend another $40m a year on
storage
- Industry experts said the compensation offered is not enough
and predicted that ISPs will pass on costs to users.