CorpComms Magazine

From today all UK-based Internet service providers must retain information on email traffic, visits to web sites and telephone calls made over the Internet for one year.

The information will be available to police and security services looking to combat crime and terrorism, who do not need a warrant to gain access.

Public sector bodies and local councils will also be able to access the data to investigate lesser crimes, such as flytipping.

The UK government regulations are contained within a European Union directive on data retention, drawn up in response to the London bombings of July 2005.

Internet service providers must record the date, time, duration and recipients of online communications. However, they will not be required to store the content of emails nor a recording of a net phone call. The data will instead be used to determine connections between individuals.

A report by ETNO, the European telecoms networks operators organisation, claims that a large internet service provider would need to store between 20,000 and 40,000 terabytes of data - the equivalent of 40 trillion emails - if it was required to keep all traffic data for 12 months.

The cost for the storage of individual records will be borne by the taxpayer.

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