New EU ISP Data Storage Rules Take Force

April 2009 The way in which an ISP stores data related to it's users has been updated and regulated. The regulations come into force from Monday 6th April.

The regulations will force all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to keep records for 12 months of all internet phone calls and emails.

In theory, a European Union Directive, such as this, should be ratified by all member states. However, it appears that a legal challenge is currently underway in Germany, whilst in Sweden the government plans to simply ignore the new rules.

The worry over the legislation is not a general complaint that information is being stored - these days, all sorts of communications records are maintained. Instead, the worry - certainly in the UK - is that the number of government agencies and their staff with the potential for access is very wide. That hardly protects privacy.

This has implications for civil liberties, increased risks of identity theft and other privacy concerns. The coverage of the story by the BBC can be found here .

With search engines keeping records of online searches for geographic areas, intelligent software that learns about user habits, social websites and more, the fear is that there will soo be barely any aspect of our lives not available to many or all online.

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