European Union Ministers Approve ENFOPOL Digital Surveillance Plans

Requirements of "legally endorsed authorities" target digital network providers.

February 24th, 1999

The Secretaries of Domestic Affairs and the Attorney Generals of the EU accepted the Euro-Police force's request for wiretapping. This can be read in the document "ENFOPOL Rev. 2", obtained by Telepolis in extracts. An EU-decision of the local council is to come in the near future. It is obvious that the version "ENFOPOL Rev. 1", known as the "Table Paper", appealed to the Secretaries of the Interior and the Attorney Generals in Brussels. The document was published by Telepolis in fulltext (in German) the day before the meeting on December 3rd, 1998.

Whereas in the original preamble it was mentioned that the council "requests the member states of asking the secretaries responsible for the telecommunications' field to co-operate with the aim to translate it into action", now the strong tone of completion rules: "The council ... asks the responsible secretaries of telecommunications to support this opinion and to complete these demands in co-operation with the responsible Departments of Justice and the Interior with regard to network providers and service suppliers."

In the "Comments Concerning the Demands of the Council's Resolution" it is noticeable that requirements of "legally endorsed authorities" now having their blessing, whereas in December they were apparently still controversial. The "comments" regarding several paragraphs as 1.4.2 and 1.4.3 are no more considered as "comments", but were directly integrated into the catalogue of demands.

It is particularly painful for digital network providers that the comment regarding paragraph 2 was entered into this paragraph now and that it is required to effect "the supply of connecting relevant data" "within a few seconds". To GSM providers these plain terms mean investments running into millions, because the infrastructure of their networks is not set up for this kind of services. Usually these data are ascertained once a day only to settle the charges for the calls or to transfer the data of international calls to - as they are called - "clearing houses" in order to balance them with the roaming-partners. Because the calculation of transmission data represents a considerable strain on the entire network, as a rule it takes place during quiet times only - therefore at night.

Until today, Friday February 19th, 1999, it could not be confirmed, whether the EU council has been informed about the latest draft of mid-January for a decision or whether it has already passed the council. That much is certain: On April 4th, 1999, the representatives of the Austrian Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) will be guests in the Austrian Department of the Interior. The subject will be "the technical conversion of the observation of telecom-observation".