The government may require internet service providers
(ISPs) to retain all communications data that runs across their
networks, including that of third party overseas
providers.
Home secretary Jacqui Smith has
ruled out the possibility of a central database holding records
of all communications in the UK, but is proposing that service
providers keep the data instead.
Smith says legislative changes are needed to ensure the police
continue to have access to the data they need. She said
increasingly "fragmented" communications need someone to collate
the data.
The work is likely to cost £2bn over 10 years. Smith says there
will be some recompense for the ISPs involved.
She has launched a consultation into whether data on the use of
mobile phones, e-mails and instant messaging should be
retained by service providers. Included in this could be extra
requirements for saving and processing data from third-party
providers, matching it where appropriate with their own business
data to make it easier for police to investigate.
Third-party data will involve communication data generated by
overseas service providers, which may be providing services without
any physical networks of their own.
The government has a number of reasons for changing the rules
around data retention. It says the UK's transition from telephone
networks to internet protocol networks means there are more ways
for people to communicate. It also says that many ISPs no longer
have a business reason for keeping much of the data generated by
their customers, where previously they might have kept records for
marketing and sales purposes. And as more services provided by ISPs
become very cheap or free, users can increasingly sign up
anonymously.
More service providers will be based abroad, the government
says, providing services to UK consumers using another company's
network. There is no business reason for UK-based service providers
to collect this data. As a result, the government worries about the
increasing fragmentation of communications services.
It says the answer could be to require ISPs to collect and
process the data. The data is needed, the government says, because
of the importance of communications data in finding and prosecuting
criminals. The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) says it uses
this kind of data in 95% of its investigations.
Jacqui Smith said the Home Office is not seeking to extend the
amount of communications data collected, but to maintain its
ability to access data in the face of changing technology.