[huridocs-tech] Privacy fears over EU plan to store email

The  Guardian Weekly
Thursday August 22, 2002

Privacy fears over EU plan to store email

European telecoms companies face order to retain data of all private 
calls for a year

Richard Norton-Taylor and Stuart Millar

Records of personal communications, including all emails and phone 
calls, will be stored for at least a year under a proposal to be 
decided by European Union governments next month.

Under the plan, all telecommunications firms, including mobile phone 
operators and internet service providers, will have to keep the 
numbers and addresses of calls and emails sent and received by EU 
citizens. The information, known as traffic data, would be held in 
central computer systems and made available to all EU governments.

The move could lead to a further extension in the powers of European 
security and intelligence agencies, allowing them to see the contents 
of emails and intercepted calls and faxes, civil liberty groups fear.

The plan, drafted in Brussels, has been leaked to Statewatch, an 
independent group monitoring threats to privacy and civil liberties 
in the EU.

"The traffic data of the whole population of the EU - and the 
countries joining - is to be held on record. It is a move from 
targeted to potentially universal surveillance," Tony Bunyan, 
Statewatch editor, warned this week. "EU governments claimed that 
changes to the 1997 privacy directive would not be binding on member 
states - each national parliament would have to decide. Now we know 
that all along they were intending to make it compulsory across 
Europe."

Although the move was initially explained by the need to fight 
terrorism, EU officials now argue it is necessary to fight all 
serious crime, including paedophilia and racism.

A "draft framework decision" for the European Council states that it 
is essential for all member states to apply the same rules. It said 
the purpose was to harmonise the retention of data to allow criminal 
investigation. The decision is a victory for Britain, which, 
encouraged by Washington, has been pushing for a compulsory EU-wide 
data retention regime.

But civil liberties campaigners say that compelling communications 
companies to retain records amounts to blanket surveillance on the 
entire EU population and will lead to law enforcement agencies 
conducting "fishing expeditions" against citizens.

The EU admits the plan involves an invasion of privacy but says the 
periods for which the data must be retained - a minimum of 12 months 
and a maximum of 24 - is "not disproportionate". The data would 
include information identifying the source, destination, and time of 
a communication, as well as the personal details of the subscriber to 
any "communication device".

The draft EU decision states that the "confidentiality and integrity" 
of retained traffic data must be "ensured" but does not say how. 
Individuals have no right to check whether the information held about 
their personal communications is accurate.

In June the Guardian revealed plans to extend the powers to access 
data to all local councils, seven ministries and 11 quangos. The Home 
Secretary, David Blunkett, bowing to intense public and political 
pressure, admitted the Government had "blundered" into the issue and 
that further consultation was needed.



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