Pandora's Box And Data Retention Obligations In Europe

Telcos, (fixed, mobile & internet services providers) generate huge amounts of data. Increasingly, law enforcement officers around the world seek such information from service providers for use in criminal and national security investigations. In order to ensure the availability of such data, mandates are imposed (imposed by law or regulation or through licensing conditions), where data must be collected and stored in such a manner that it is linked to users' names or other identification information. Government officials may then demand access to this data, pursuant to the laws of their respective countries, for use in investigations¹.

The first thoughts for a data retention law can be traced back to the "International Law Enforcement and Telecommunications Seminars" (ILETS) held at the FBI academy in Quantico, Virginia, in 1993. Later, a memorandum on the requirements of law enforcement agencies was signed between EU member states on a secretive committee working