Euro-cops get retentive

At a recent a meeting of the Telecommunications Council of the European Union a rather disturbing directive was not only tabled, but also unanimously approved. Thanks to the assent of the 15 nations involved with the Council, European police can now

At a recent a meeting of the Telecommunications Council of the European Union a rather disturbing directive was not only tabled, but also unanimously approved. Thanks to the assent of the 15 nations involved with the Council, European police can now insist that ISPs, Telcos and other similar organisations store all email, and other transmission details for seven years.

While the law may sound more than a little draconian, it should be noted that what will be stored is not complete emails and phone conversations, but the records of those connections. In other words, the cops will know that you sent an email or had a phone conversation at any given time over the last seven years. We should be thankful - the original proposal called for everything to be recorded, including the content of emails and conversations themselves.

Regardless, both the European Commission and the Data Protection Working Party - both EU bodies - oppose the move.