The Minister for Justice, Mr Michael McDowell, today announced the next phase in the consultation process on the retention of traffic data with the launch of an online public consultation website.
The Minister said that a dedicated website has been created to further the consultation process. He has invited interested parties and individuals to access the site and to contribute to the development of this important legislation.
The site is accessible from the Department's own website www.justice.ieby clicking on the link Consultation on Data Retention on the Home Page.
The Minister hosted an "information forum on data retention on February 24th which brought together representatives of the telecom industry, ISPs, lawyers, data protection, civil liberties, human rights, an Garda Síochána, and Government Departments.
Work on new legislation is underway so that certain data, such as telephone traffic data, will continue to be retained and accessed in the necessary fight against crime.
Telcos have been critical of the high cost of retaining customer phone, data and online records while civil liberties groups have claimed that proposals for the new Act are an infringement on people's privacy.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties is calling for data to be retained for a maximum of six months and that any data being retained for longer periods should be justified. Current proposals being drawn up by the Department of Justice suggest that personal electronic data be retained for three years.