Europe"s Data Protection Commissioners have voiced concern about EU proposals to mandate phone companies and ISPs to retain customer data, questioning the "legitimacy" and cost of the proposals.
At present, service providers only retain data for billing purposes, but that is set to change because of plans that ISPs retain data for up to two years, in the event of it becoming of interest in police or security service investigations into serious crime or terrorism.
This data would include catalogues of web sites visited, records of e-mail recipients, lists of telephone numbers dialled, and the geographical location of mobile phones at all times they were switched on. It doesn"t include the contents of messages.
Privacy advocates such as the Foundation for Information Policy Research have questioned the need for such measures, warning of their impact on civil liberties.