p2p news / p2pnet: The British government has been dubbed Villain of the Year for fostering, and then ramming through, the infamous European Snoop Law, as the new data retention rules have been dubbed.

"At an awards ceremony in London last night, the Internet Service Provider Association said the Government had used its presidency of the European Union in 2005 to force ISPs and telecom companies to, "retain more data for longer without proper impact assessment," says the Times Online.

Association members include BT as well as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, "already among the biggest repositories of personal data in the world".

The legislation will compel them to keep details of their European customers’ telephone calls and internet use for up to two years.

However, they’re not protesting because of customer privacy concerns. Rather, they’re worried about the extra costs associated with compliance, their comments to the contrary notwithstanding.

"Previously ISPs in Britain had operated under a voluntary code included in the 2001 Anti-terrorism, Crime & Security Act," says the story. "The code suggested that subscriber information be stored for 12 months and web activity information - which includes logs of web pages visited - for just four days. The Government has argued that such information is a crucial weapon in the fight against terrorism. Its support for the new EU measures measures followed the London bombings in July."

Meanwhile, "The UK government was up against some strong competition for the award. Sony BMG was a finalist for its failed rootkit DRM software, and Russia was nominated for its attitude to web freedom," says VNUNet.

Also See:
Snoop Law - EU accepts data retention, February 22, 2006
Times Online - Whitehall branded internet ‘Villain of the Year’, February 24, 2006
VNUNet - UK wins Villain of the Internet award, February 24, 2006

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