Industry groups against data retention laws

Four major industry groups have published a joint statement against
mandatory data retention. The coalition represents worldwide and European
businesses including most major electronic communications service providers
and manufacturers. They are challenging EU member states on proposals that
would require communication service providers to store details of all
calls, emails and transactions for use by law enforcement agencies.

In the statement the coalition expresses concern at the overly broad
definitions of traffic data and excessive storage periods, costs for
industry, technical feasibility and damage to end-user confidence due to
privacy concerns and increased security risks.

The statement recommends that European countries favour data preservation
(targeted storage of specific data on specified end-users) over data
retention (general storage of data for a specified period of time). It also
says that any requirement for data storage must be “necessary, appropriate
and proportionate” and that “transparent and effective oversight procedures
are necessary to prevent abuses and to safeguard public confidence”.

A majority of EU members favours a binding European law for mandatory data
retention as became clear from the answers to a questionnaire that the EU
previously sent to member states.

Common industry statement on storage of traffic data for law enforcement
purposes (04.06.2003)
http://www.iccwbo.org/home/news_archives/2003/stories/data.asp

Answers to questionnaire on traffic data retention (20.11.2002)
http://www.effi.org/sananvapaus/eu-2002-11-20.html