IT industry turns down Data Storage Directive
Oslo: For every IT worker in Norway who supports the Data Storage Directive, more than two reject it. These are the findings of the new Proact Storage Barometer.
The Data Storage Directive (DLD) has few friends in Norway. There is major scepticism among the people of Norway, most political parties and a number of trendsetting social institutions. There is not a lot of support for it in the IT industry, either.
“If your job involves IT, you probably have more than a passing interest in this subject. The fact that so many people working in IT have such negative attitudes towards the Data Storage Directive is surprising,” says Eirik Pedersen, Director of Sales and Marketing at Proact IT Norway.
This scepticism became apparent from the last edition of the Storage Barometer, an annual report created by analysis company YouGov on behalf of the storage specialists at Proact. Nearly 200 employees in the Norwegian IT industry we asked for their views on the Data Storage Directive. Only 16% said they were in favour of it, while 39% were against.
Minimum requirements
The Data Storage Directive is an EU directive which requires storage of traffic data for e-mail, telephony and Internet usage. This is intended to make it easier to combat serious crime and terrorism.
Pedersen points out that telecoms operators and ISPs already retain traffic data to a great extent. “The new feature is that minimum requirements are laid down on how long this data is to be retained. The data will not be issued constantly to a central database, but it must be possible for data to be supplied to the police for specific cases,” he explains.
In contravention of the Constitution
Views on the directive are divided in the EU as well. Sweden, Ireland and Greece have been condemned for failing to introduce the directive, and the German Supreme Court has ruled that parts of the Data Storage Directive are in contravention of the Constitution.
“Interestingly, the Germans stated that the implementation of the directive, and not the directive per se, is in contravention of the Constitution. The judgement states what has to happen for the Germans to find the Data Storage Directive palatable, and these are not minor issues,” says Pedersen.
Bill in the billions
Among other things, there is a requirement for all data stored to be encrypted; and data has to be stored separately, so not in connection with public networks. No one individual will be allowed access to the data; all access will have to be executed by two people simultaneously.
It will cost almost NOK 261 million to introduce the Data Storage Directive in Norway, according to a cost analysis created on behalf of the Ministry of Transport and Communications. In the IT industry, there is general agreement that the actual cost of introducing the directive as per the German blueprint will cost a lot more; more than NOK 2 billion, according to some.
“There is no doubt that introducing the Data Storage Directive is possible in terms of technology, but the more issues that have to be taken into account, the bigger the price tag. One important issue in this regard is, who will pay the bill? Will it be the authorities, ISPs or telecoms suppliers?” points out Eirik Pedersen at Proact.
(Pressenytt)
Contacts:
Proact IT Norge AS, Managing Director Marit Fagervold, tel. +47 22 89 23 89 / +47 92 69 59 67
Proact IT Norge AS, Eirik Pedersen, Director of Sales and Marketing, tel. +47 22 89 23 89, mobile +47 930 34134
About Proact
Proact is a specialist in storage, archiving and securing large volumes of mission-critical information. As an independent integrator, Proact provides systems, support and consulting services within our focus area of data storage and archiving. The Proact Group has more than 300 employees and conducts business in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Proact was founded in 1994 and its parent company, Proact IT Group AB (publ) has been listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm since 1999 under the symbol PACT.
Additional information about Proact is available at www.proact.eu.
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