ISPs start storing browsing data

 

Gallery

By Asavin Wattanajantra

Posted on 6 Apr 2009 at 15:49

The implementation of an EU directive forcing UK ISPs to keep internet data on customers for one year has met with an angry response from privacy groups.

The legislation was drawn up by the EU in the wake of the London bombings in 2005, and requires that UK ISPs hold data on communications between individuals for up to one year, though they are prevented from monitoring the content of emails and websites visited.

The directive came into effect today, at an estimated cost of £48 million to ISPs, which the Government has agreed to cover.

The Open Rights Group has called it "a serious erosion of our fundamental human right to privacy."

"Privacy is recognised by European and British courts as a matter of right," says Jim Killock, the ORG's executive director. "The European Human Rights Convention states quite clearly that we have a right to a private life and correspondence, and the European Court of Human Rights has stated that traffic data is 'an integral element in the communications made'."

However, the Government claims its priority is to protect public and national safety: "Communications data is the where and when of communication and plays a vital part in a wide range of criminal investigations, and prevention of terrorists attacks as well as contributing to public safety more generally," the Home Office says in a statement.

"Without communications data resolving crimes such as the Rhys Jones murder would be very difficult if not impossible."

The Government recently outlined plans to monitor people's communications on social-networking sites. The proposal has caused a massive backlash from the Liberal Democrats, who have called it the "most expensive snooper's charter in history".