War on terror targets ISPs in Europe.

Several European countries are working to pass controversial legislation that would require telephone companies and Internet service providers (ISPs) to retain substantial amounts of customer data, despite the European Parliament's rejection of the proposed bill. The legislation is part of an

France, Ireland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom jointly introduced the legislation's draft proposal outlining the major provisions of the bill, including requiring phone companies and ISPs to retain customer data on the times, dates, and locations of all phone calls and e-mails for 12 to 36 months. The data would be subject to search and analysis by European law enforcement agencies.

The European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs issued a report rejecting the legislative draft, questioning the bill's legality, and noting the difficulties associated with analyzing such large amounts of data in criminal investigations. The report also stated that people involved in "organized crime and terrorism will easily find a way to prevent their data from being traced." Despite the rejection, the countries that introduced the legislative draft proposal plan to move forward and lobby for passage of the bill. The bill was currently pending in the European Parliament's Committee on Parliamentary Civil Liberties.

On the other side of the pond, the U.S. Department of Justice is currently exploring a similar proposal that would require ISPs located in the United States to retain records of their customers' online activities. Existing data retention rules could allow police to obtain records of e-mail activity, Internet browsing, and chat-room discussions months after ISPs generally delete logs of that type of information, if logs are kept. There are no current U.S. laws that require ISPs to maintain logs of customers' Internet activity.