Fergie's Tech Blog

Europe: Proposed Legislation Called a Threat to Internet Users Privacy

Victoria Shannon writes in The International Herald Tribune:

European governments are preparing legislation to force companies to keep detailed data about people's Internet and phone use that goes beyond what the countries will be required to do under a European Union directive.

In Germany, a proposal from the Ministry of Justice would essentially prohibit using fake information to create an e-mail account, making the standard Internet practice of creating pseudonymous accounts illegal.

A draft law in the Netherlands would likewise go further than the EU requires, in this case by mandating phone companies to save records of exactly where someone is during an entire mobile phone conversation.

Even now, Internet service providers in Europe divulge customer information — which they normally keep on hand for about three months, for billing purposes — to police officials with legally valid orders on a "routine" basis, a privacy expert said. The data concern how the communication was sent and by whom but not its content.

posted by Fergie @ 2/14/2007 02:17:00 PM