British Home Secretary Charles Clarke was not able to get backing from his EU colleagues at an informal council of ministers of justice on 8 September for a controversial anti-terror plan. It would demand the retention of a wide range of data for periods ranging from 12 to 48 months.
The draft proposal, which is on the negotiation table since 2004, covered retention of both fixed line and mobile telephony, e-mails and SMS.
But a mixture of privacy concerns and the presumed highs cost for telecoms companies who would have to store the data, blocked an agreement.
"We think it's a rather unsophisticated approach to a complex problem," commented Michael Bartholomew, head of European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association.
