The French govt. wants to force ISPs and web hosts to hold person...
The French govt. wants to force ISPs and web hosts to hold personal data on subscribers for law enforcement use for as long as 3 years, digital rights group Imaginons un reseau Internet solidaire (IRIS) said Fri. If adopted,…
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the decree would fit into a 2004 measure transposing the EU e-commerce directive into national law. But while existing law requires a year of data storage, the proposal would allow information, once obtained, to be held for 3 years if interior and defense ministers approve, IRIS said. The proposal casts too broad a net in terms of content subject to retention, IRIS said. Data are supposed to be held only to identify who contributes to the creation of content on a website, the decree proposes to store subscriber passwords as well. That is “manifestly excessive and not pertinent,” IRIS said, nor does the law the rules implement justify it. Letting police demand and receive access to such information for so long, with no judicial oversight, sets the decree in conflict with French and EU data retention law, the group said. With elections underway in France, it’s not clear if the proposal will be approved in current form, said IRIS Pres. Meryem Marzouki. New ministers “may decide to modify the text,” she said, but in any case, it should be vetted by France’s data protection agency and other administrative authorities.