[Politech] Data retention endorsed by International Association of Chiefs of Police [priv]

[Declan McCullagh]

The idea of data retention -- forcing Internet companies to keep track
of what their customers are doing -- will probably be one of the biggest
Politech topics of 2007. That's when the new Congress will convene and
the FBI will resume its push for federal legislation.

The groundwork is being laid right now. The International Association of
Chiefs of Police endorsed the concept in a resolution, and FBI director
Robert Mueller applauded them a few hours later:

http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/speeches/mueller101706.htm
"Today, terrorists coordinate their plans cloaked in the anonymity of
the Internet, as do violent sexual predators prowling chat rooms...
Before we can catch these offenders, Internet service providers have
unwittingly deleted the very records that would help us identify these
offenders and protect future victims. We must find a balance between the
legitimate need for privacy and law enforcementbs clear need for access.
Your resolution on records retention passed this morning will help put
us on the right path."

Here's a timeline so far:
http://news.com.com/2100-7348_3-6126877.html

The IACP resolution follows (I converted it from a Word document, so the
formatting isn't quite perfect). Note that data retention is being
extended from ISPs to registrars and registries. Search engines have
also been talked about as potential targets.

-Declan

---------------------

The International Association of Chiefs of Police

Adopted at the 113th Annual Conference
Boston, Massachusetts
October 17, 2006

Support For Data Retention In Aid Of The Investigation Of Crimes
Facilitated Or Committed
Through The Use Of The Internet And Telephony-Based Communications Services
Submitted by the Communications & Technology Committee


WHEREAS, the lawful investigation of Internet data and telephonic
communications has historically proven to be one of the most valuable
tools available to law enforcement in identifying both the perpetrators
and victims of crimes;
WHEREAS, the Internet is global in nature, and as such, poses challenges
when conducting multi-agency international investigations, including
delays imposed when obtaining local and international legal process;
WHEREAS, the IACP has previously noted in its Resolution of September
27, 2005 entitled bSupport for Preservation of Access to Publicly
Available Resources in Cyber Investigations, b CT23.a05, that electronic
forensic evidence is fleeting in nature, and law enforcement officials
must obtain timely access to this information to fulfill law enforcement
duties before the information is destroyed or otherwise becomes unavailable;
WHEREAS, criminals use the anonymity and international nature of the
Internet, and the fleeting nature of electronic evidence, to enhance
their ability to victimize citizens and thwart law enforcement
investigations;
WHEREAS, publicly available bwhoisb databases containing information
involving the allocation of Internet resources, such as Internet
Protocol address space and domain names, are a critical tool used by law
enforcement, but may not remain publicly available, which would severely
hamper or eliminate the ability for law enforcement agencies to conduct
investigations in a timely manner;
WHEREAS, the failure of Internet access provider industry to retain
subscriber information, and source or destination information for any
uniform, predictable reasonable period, has resulted in the absence of
data, which has become a significant hindrance and even an obstacle in
certain investigations such as computer intrusion investigations and
child obscenity and exploitation investigations, although law
enforcement has generally acted expeditiously in processing lawful
requests to Internet providers;
WHEREAS, the migration in telephony from "toll service" to a nationwide
or continental flat rate billing system has substantially eroded law
enforcementbs ability to utilize lawful process to obtain telephone toll
records historically critical to the identification, detection and
prevention terrorist threat and the investigation of serious criminal
conspiracies;
WHEREAS, the effect of the lack of uniform retention periods of
customer/subscriber records, and communication source and destination
data in various industries and amongst various providers in the same
industry has been to undermine law enforcementbs ability to predictably
prioritize investigations or strategically assign resources to those
investigations which are largely dependant upon the existence of such
data, and;
WHEREAS, the European Union addressed this problem in March 2006 by
passing a Directive on Data Retention, Directive 2006/24/EC, requiring
Member States to adopt laws to combat serious crime and terrorism by
requiring the retention of customer information and communication source
and destination information for a uniform minimum period, now,
therefore, be it -b
RESOLVED, that the IACP strongly urges national legislatures, the
Internet administration and telephony communities, including regional
Internet registries, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers, domain-name registries, domain-name registrars, Internet access
and service providers and telecommunication providers to develop an
appropriate but uniform data retention mandate for both the
aforementioned Internet administration community and telephony service
providers requiring the retention of customer subscriber information,
and source and destination information for a minimum specified
reasonable period of time so that it will be available to the law
enforcement community, upon applicable legal process, to enhance public
safety and prevent, deter or detect terrorists and criminals through the
ability to investigate offenses facilitate by use of the Internet and
telephony.
FURTHER RESOLVED, that the IACP membership actively engage their
respective governmental executive and legislative components, Internet
administration, and telephony industry communities and coordinate their
efforts to achieve the goal of providing consistent, equal, and uniform
lawful access to the above-referenced resources for all of the law
enforcement community.

_______________________________________________
Politech mailing list
Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)

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