Anti-terrorist laws call for a record of all email and web use

Internet service providers could be forced to retain email and web traffic data for up to 12 months as the government moves to tighten up surveillance legislation.

The Home Office sponsored move would allow law enforcement agencies to go 'data fishing' for historical correspondence to and from a terrorist suspect or for keywords linked to criminal activity.

Details are still scarce, but Home Office minister David Blunkett said the emergency Anti-Terrorist Bill being put together would include measures "to enable communication service providers to retain data generated in the course of their business".

The Home Office has promised to work together with the industry to create a code of practice.
Three days after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon the UK's National High-Tech Crime Unit asked phone companies and ISPs to preserve communications data from 11 September in case it contained important clues to help identify the terrorists.

The foundation for the new legislation has already been laid in the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act which came into law earlier this year.

Last July, silicon.com revealed that at least one ISP, Poptel, would take its business abroad if forced to retain data, while two others, UUnet and PSINet, would consider similar action.