According to the BBC, the ISPA in the UK (Internet Service Providers Association) has awarded the UK’s EU Presidency the prestigious award of “Villian Of The Year” for its part in driving home the European data retention laws which are due to come into effect this year.

Under the ruling, ISPs and telecoms will have to store customers phone and internet data in order to help the fight against terrorism. Although the content of the data (calls, emails etc.) won’t be recorded, their records will be, which means a huge cost to service providers who have to store this type of data.

We’ve already seen all the hype surrounding the Bush administration in the US seeking search records from Google recently. Fair play to Google for taking a stand and refusing to hand over their records, but how long before people’s privacy online is blown wide open, especially with call and internet records now possibly being held for up to two years at a time?