EU Passes New Log Retention Rule for Telcos

The BBC reports that the European Parliament has approved rules, as an anti-terror measure, to require telephone companies to retain call and internet records for two years.

I do not know if Windows-powered telephony switches exist, but even if they do they probably don't log the desired information to the Windows audit log.

Here's what telcos must store, for every connected call, regardless of whether it is answered or not:

• data that can trace fixed or mobile telephone calls
• time and duration of calls
• location of the mobile phone being called
• details of connections made to the Internet
• details, but not the content, of internet e-mail and internet telephony services

If I were one of the storage vendors I would be rubbing my hands together with glee :-)

On a different note, I wonder how the EU will reconcile this with the various privacy laws they have which prohibit data disclosure without the individual's consent?