European interior ministers are on collision course with
the European Parliament over the retention of communications data
for the fight against terrorism and other crime.
Interior ministers in Brussels last week agreed that phone
companies and ISPs should be forced to retain communications data
for up to two years to enable police to track suspected
criminals.
While the minimum period set by ministers was six months for
retention, they also said it should be optional for European Union
governments as to whether communications companies should be
reimbursed for storing and sharing the details with the police.
The European Parliament’s civil liberties committee has already
voted for a maximum one year retention period and for companies to
be reimbursed their costs.
The civil liberties committee is concerned that blanket access
to the data will encourage law enforcement agencies to use the data
for relatively minor offences, including the illegal sharing of
internet music.
Reimbursement will help reduce the amount of data stored and
shared, believes the committee.
The ministers also agreed that those countries that already
demand data to be stored for longer periods than two years should
continue to be able to do so.
One of the main aims of the proposed legislation is to make sure
that national law enforcement agencies can easily access data in
different countries, where currently there are not any fixed data
retention periods.
The European parliament is scheduled to vote on the issue in
mid-December. The UK has led calls for greater data retention
following the London bombings.