Phone companies ordered to keep records for a year
The European Union agreed today to legally require telecommunications companies to keep records of phone and e-mail traffic for up to one year as part of the bloc’s anti-terrorist campaign.
The decision by 25 EU justice ministers comes after years of European debate over the privacy and cost concerns of data retention. Officials said the ministers agreed phone companies must keep records for 12 months and internet access providers for six months.
Britain, which holds the rotating EU presidency, has pushed for a data retention order as part of anti-terror efforts in the wake of the deadly bombings in London in July.
The 25 EU nations have varying data retention laws; 15 EU countries have none. Two countries –Italy and the Republic of Ireland, where law now requires that telecommunications data be kept for three and four years, respectively – will be allowed to retain the longer requirement.
