Statewatch says that six EU governments lead the opposition to the erasure of traffic data - as required under current community law: Belgium, Germany, France, Netherlands, Spain and the UK. It refers to the "Council Conclusions" contained in a report of ENFOPOL, an EU working group on interception issues, which say:
1. The obligation for operators to erase and make traffic data anonymous "seriously obstructs" criminal investigations;
2. It is of the "utmost importance" that "access" be "guaranteed" for criminal investigations; and
3. It calls on the European Commission to:
a) take "immediate action" to ensure that law enforcement agencies now and "in the future" get access in order to "investigate crimes where electronic communications systems are or have been used";
b) the "action" should be "a review of the provisions that oblige operators to erase traffic data or to make them anonymous"
In short, observes Statewatch, existing EU laws on data protection and privacy have to be reviewed to enable the retention of traffic data for the investigation of crime. All future laws, including the proposals currently being discussed on the protection of privacy and computer-aided crime should ensure the retention of data.
The latest ENFOPOL report is scheduled for adoption at the next meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 28th-29th May, together with a Resolution emphasising the great importance of ensuring that the redefined "Requirements" are built into community measures under the "first pillar". The adoption of the Conclusions, if agreement can be reached on the text, has been "pencilled in" for the meeting of the Telecommunications Council on 27 June - at the same meeting where the Council will adopt a "common position" on the new data protection and privacy Directive.
The Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR) notes that the UK’s e-Minister has repeatedly denied any move to compelling ISPs to retain traffic data, most recently last Friday. Caspar Bowden, director of FIPR said:
"These proposals would allow fishing expeditions into the on-line activity, browsing habits, and internet associations of every citizen in the EU for up to seven years - without any warrant or court order. The government has repeatedly denied supporting these quasi-totalitarian measures, but it turns out they have been secretly lobbying at European level all along. This is sheer duplicity".