MEPs Urged to Sign Up to ISP Data Retention Plan

Members of the European Parliament are being urged to sign Written Declaration 29 calling for the setting up of an early warning system whose creators claim will prevent child pornography and sexual harassment on the internet.

Around 324 MEPs had signed the declaration by Friday, but the parliament still needs the signatures of around 45 more members before it can take the matter further.

The Declaration calls for the installation of a data retention directive that will help the EU to keep a track of searches conducted on the internet.

The issue has not been met with the full support of all the members of the parliament - many of whom have called it an invasion of privacy.

MEPs, including Swedish representative Christian Engstrom, have urged their colleagues not to sign the declaration, known by its reference number 2006/24/EC, claiming it to be misleading and vague.

The declaration states that the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is entitled to keep a check on illegal material and filter out such content across ISPs.

Currently internet search engines including Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are attempting anonymise search data, in compliance with European Data Laws.