Internet service providers (ISPs) are unhappy with the
government's plans to require them to store records of all e‑mail,
social networking and web traffic.
The trade body representing the companies, the Internet Service
Providers' Association (ISPA), has written to the Home Office over
its plan to store all forms of communications data.
In a document seen by the Financial Times it says the proposals
go "far beyond" the present rules for storing telephone data, and
would have a "debilitating effect on companies given the
costs".
The Home Office wants to hold the communications data because
police say they need it to tackle terrorism and other serious
crime.
It attempted to push through a
government-controlled communications database which would have
held data on phone calls, texts, e‑mail, social media sites like
Twitter and Facebook, Skype and some web-based computer games.
The Home Office
dropped the plans after a flurry of privacy complaints, and now
wants internet service providers to store the data instead. Under
the new plans, which are currently under consultation, police would
have access to the data.
The ISPA represents companies such as Google, Virgin, Ebay and
BT. It said it was concerned about the operational burden the
requirements would place on companies because of the huge volumes
of data they would be expected to hold. It is also concerned about
how such a large amount of data would be stored, and whether the
requirements would be feasible. It also called the measures
"intrusive".