Unresolved Data Retention Issues Worry ISPs, Telcos
European justice ministers gave final approval Tues. to mandatory retention of communications traffic data. Member states have 18 months to adopt the telecom storage rules into national law -- 36 months for Internet traffic data -- Austrian Federal Justice Minister Karin Gastinger said at a Justice & Home Affairs Council news briefing. Gastinger doesn’t expect technical difficulties with the directive, she said, but questions about the controversial measure’s impact on communications services providers leave them jittery.
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As the directive is woven into 25 national laws, “the industry remains very concerned” about states’ flexibility to broaden mandates beyond the directive’s, a spokesman for the European Telecom Network Operators’ Assn. said. Among questions are what categories of data must be retained, for how long, and for what crimes law enforcement will be able to seek data, he said. A patchwork of national laws would “fail to create a level playing field,” the spokesman said. Moreover, leaving it to each state to decide whether CSPs should be reimbursed could hurt competition, he said.
At least 12 nations want the extra 18 months to adopt the provisions, said Richard Nash, European Internet Services Providers Assn. (EuroISPA) regulatory affairs specialist. EuroISPA and its members will stress the “importance of wide consultation at the national level” to ensure that specific burdens on ISPs are technically feasible and don’t cause hardships. This is needed because in several member countries, consultation procedures with the ISP industry haven’t been strong, he said.
“Clearly” there will be controversies, Nash said. They include recovering costs of handling law enforcement requests. EuroISPA still opposes the directive and “what we will now try to avoid” is national measures that make “these significant burdens even more substantial,” he said.
“The debate in Germany has already started,” said Axel Spies, an attorney representing German competitive carriers (VATM). Parliament recently passed a resolution calling on the govt. to present draft legislation for a mandatory 6- month retention period, the minimum under the new directive. Competitive telcos will “continue to work together with law enforcement to find suitable solutions,” he said, but the cost issue must be resolved.