Indeed, it is not because the data retained can be accessed and used by police and judicial authorities for criminal investigations that the data retention rules, which address private actors
providing electronic communications services (service providers), would themselves be excluded from the scope of the Directive (§ § 87 - 97).
For example, a data retention directive in Europe says that each country in the EU will establish requirements
for electronic communications services and require providers to retain data for a period of between 6 and 24 months.
In order to support this finding, the Court suggests that the legislative measures provided for in Article 15 (1) apply to providers of electronic communications services [74] and extend to measures requiring data retention [75] and access to retained data by national authorities [76].
This is due to Directive 2006 / 24 / EC of 15 March 2006 on the retention of data generated or processed in connection with the provision of publicly
available electronic communications services or of public communications networks.
Contrary to the government's contention that CALEA is inapplicable to this dispute, Congress declared via CALEA that the government can not dictate to providers
of electronic communications services or manufacturers of telecommunications equipment any specific equipment design or software configuration.
«(2) to prohibit the adoption of any equipment, facility, service, or feature by any provider of a wire or
electronic communication service, any manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, or any provider of telecommunications support services.»
«(1) to require any specific design of equipment, facilities, services, features, or system configurations to be adopted by any provider of a wire or
electronic communication service, any manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, or any provider of telecommunications support services.
'' The Communications Service Tax Bill, which proposes to impose a monthly Communication Service Tax of nine per cent on
all electronic communication services, which include voice calls; SMS; MMS and data usage is still before the National Assembly
Readers of the draft US uniform statute will be struck by fairly complex provisions about information in the hands of an «
electronic communications service» or a «remote computing service», and distinguishing between records of e-communications and the contents of such communications.
These provisions are driven by US federal law dating from the 1980s, notably the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S Code s. 2702 (enacted as part of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act) This provision prohibits any person providing
an electronic communication service or a remote communications service to the public from divulging the contents of any communication it holds.
In the U.S., for example, absent a court order, handing over customer information to a civil litigant is a criminal violation of the Stored Communications Protection Act, 18 U.S.C. 2072 (a)(1), which holds that anyone «providing
an electronic communication service to the public shall not knowingly divulge to any person or entity the contents of a communication while in electronic storage by that service.»
However, Ofcom points out that its remit is limited to the regulation of spectrum and
electronic communications services and the safety of the scheme would have to be approved by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
A provider of remote computing service or
electronic communication service to the public that distributes licenses for products, services, applications, or software of or by a covered entity shall ensure that any such products, services, applications, or software distributed by such person be capable of complying with subsection (a).
Under revised law national security letters can't be used to obtain records «so long as the library is not operating as an «
electronic communication service,» a term defined as «any service which provides to users thereof the ability to send or receive wire or electronic communications.»
The statute, which amends the SCA, states that a «provider of
electronic communication service» shall comply with a court order for data «regardless of whether such communication, record or other information is located within or outside of the United States.»