INTERNET
Data retention plans anger privacy group
28-11-2002
by Andrew McLindon
The government has denied that it plans to retain citizens' phone call and e-mail details for up to four years, but critics have pounced on the State's intentions.
According to a report in The Irish Times on Thursday, the Telecommunications Retention of Data Traffic Bill will see information about people's phone and Internet usage patterns kept for between two and four years. Currently, such details are only held for purely billing purposes and are usually deleted after six months.
This new measure could potentially mean that authorities be would able to view phone numbers dialled by a person and the date, time and duration of the phone calls, as well as the destination of their e-mails, and the details of Web sites and newsgroups visited. It may also include location data on mobile phone users.
However, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice has denied that such a length of time is contained in the bill. The spokesperson told ElectricNews.Net that no decision had been made on how long data must be retained. "The bill is being introduced on the back of a recent EU directive and is in its initial stages of being drafted. All interested parties will be consulted before its publication and then it is open to amendments from the House of the Oireachtas before it becomes law," said the spokesperson.
Nevertheless, the bill is being planned, although the Department said a publication date had not been set, and this issue has being causing considerable concern for civil libertarians since first mooted 15 months ago. At that time, the EU was looking for member states to retain such data for one year and it could only be accessed on a case-by-case basis on the back of a warrant.
But this time frame seems to have been extended. In August, Statewatch, a UK-based privacy advocacy organisation, said that it had received a leaked document which showed that the EU is planning to force European telephone companies, mobile operators and ISPs to store details of all their customers' activities for between 12 to 24 months.
The possibility has been raised that the introduction of such a Bill into law will be contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights and Ireland's E-Commerce Act 2000.
In response, the Department spokesperson said that the Bill was being introduced to assist the Garda Siochana with serious crimes, and strict safeguards would be put in place to ensure the privacy of individuals would be protected. "The information will only be accessed for crime detection and prevention purposes," said the spokesperson.
However, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has sharply criticised any such bill. "This bill will greatly undermine data privacy in this country and will make all citizens potential subjects in a crime," said Liam Herrick, research and parliamentary officer for the ICCL. Herrick added that it was doubtful whether it would have any real impact in preventing and prosecuting crimes. "Organised crimes and terrorists have the resources to evade these measures. Its benefits are spurious," he remarked.
As Herrick commented, such a bill will also be of concern to Internet Service Providers and phone and mobile network operators who will be responsible for retaining the data.
Cormac Callanan, chairman of the Internet Service Providers Association of Ireland, told ElectricNews.Net in August that such a change in the law will eventually lead to ISPs here being forced to either increase their prices or charge law enforcement agencies for inquiries about the data they are holding.
Using the subject line to get noticed: Denise Cox argues that to get results you have to make every word work in a subject line.
