McDowell rejects article on data retention

The Minister for Justice has described as "misleading" an article in yesterday's Irish Times which revealed plans to retain detailed personal data on phone and mobile calls, faxes and e-mail and Internet usage for several years.

The Irish Times reported yesterday that the Retention of Telecommunications Data Traffic Bill, would expand the period under which personal data could be retained from a few months to three years and expand the type of data retained. However, Mr McDowell told RTÉ yesterday the Bill has "none of the frightening implications which the story suggests".

The Minister noted the Department itself would not be retaining data in large databases. He suggested telecommunications operators and Internet service providers would be required to store and manage the data. He also said the Department would be consulting widely on the key elements of the Bill and stated that it was only at an early stage.

However, The Irish Times understands that the Department has been working on the Bill - which has already been circulated in a draft heads form - for about six months, during which neither the key industries affected nor civil rights groups have been contacted.

Yesterday's report noted that the Bill failed to clarify who would store the data, who would have access to it and how it would be made secure. Such issues have been at the centre of prolonged public and parliamentary debate in Britain, which has attempted to introduce similar legislation.

A leaked document dated November 20th from the European Council of Justice Ministers reveals the Department informed the council that it had plans to introduce a Bill to retain data "for not less that three years", one of the longest periods proposed by any EU state.

The document reveals that the former Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms Mary O'Rourke, apparently issued a "direction" in April 2002 that telecommunications data be retained for three years.

The Government also replied that it had not consulted the telecoms industry about proposed data retention legislation because it was already co-operative in releasing data needed for investigations and foresaw no problems with the industry. The questionnaire was completed by the Department of Justice and submitted within the past two months, a senior source said.

Mr McDowell said yesterday that telecommunications companies could retain data for six years. The data protection commissioner, Mr Joe Meade, has repeatedly stated that under existing Irish data protection law, telecoms companies should not retain call data for longer than needed for billing.

Mr Meade has just negotiated an agreement with O2 and Vodafone to hold data for a maximum of six months. Vodafone is informing its subscribers of this in a leaflet in its current bills.

"We're very concerned that there's never been any consultation between Government and the industry on data retention at all," said Mr Cormac Callanan, director of the Internet Service Providers Association of Ireland, whose members include Eircom Net, Esat Business, AOL.co.uk, HEAnet, Ireland On-Line, O2, Vodafone and UTV.

The International Chamber of Commerce in Paris issued a statement yesterday condemning attempts by EU states to introduce data-retention regimes which imposed heavy costs on telecommunications operators and Internet service providers. The chamber called on governments to consult fully with business on data traffic storage requirements.

In Finland, meanwhile, law enforcement authorities have issued warrants for five senior executives of the country's primary telecommunications company, Sonera, on charges of misusing customer and employee billing data. The executives are accused of going through call records to try to find a "mole" who was leaking details of a management dispute to the press.