Declan McCullagh has some discussion of the latest ideas being floated regarding data retention, or requiring ISPs to retain certain records on users and communications for some period of time. In the past, European agencies have been the ones pushing for retention (with other EU components pushing for stricter data privacy rules in equal measure), while the US has generally taken a laissez-faire approach, with a mechanism for law enforcement to request preservation of data when needed for an investigation. One can get an idea of the old US position in this document from 2001 pushing back on Euro-style data retention proposals.
But of course, people change, hairstyles change, government's positions on mandatory data retention policies change...
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