European retention obligation will be adjusted next year

The EU will not change the controversial telecom data retention obligation this year. That said European Commissioner Cecilia Malmström in an interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine. The treatment was said to have been delayed.

The new directive for the storage of telecom data would actually be presented this year. However, the usual stakeholder conferences have yet to take place. The new directive will be synchronized with the new e-Privacy directive. Malmström will therefore work closely with Neelie Kroes, who is responsible for this guideline.

The duration of the retention obligation will be reviewed. It is possible that the duration will be shortened, something that opponents of the retention obligation would like to see. Telecom and internet providers are currently obliged to keep telecom data for a minimum of six to a maximum of 24 months.

In January, an internal document was leaked that talks about extending the retention obligation. The retention obligation should become ‘technology neutral’, which would also include web forums and social networking sites. This request would come from investigation and security services. However, the authenticity of the document has not yet been proven.