Posted: 22nd Sep, 2005 By: MarkJ
The European Commission (EC) has adopted its own data retention proposal, which could see Internet data (specifically e-mail) traffic held for six months. However, this does not yet make it a law and there is a much more aggressive competing proposal:
But the proposal has tough competition: it needs the support of the European Parliament and Council of Ministers to become law and the Council has its own plans for data retention, set out in a Framework Decision. The Council plan allows for data retention periods of up to three years and it could be adopted by the Council acting alone, without any debate in Parliament.The Register has a detailed low-down on the whole situation, which is extremely complex to say the least.