Prague, June 9 (CTK) – The Czech National Security Council (BRS) approved yesterday a change to a government directive to bind Internet service providers to store data about target Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, which might help investigate serious criminal cases, Interior Minister Milan Chovanec told reporters.
It may enhance the investigations of cases such as blackmail, child pornography and bank account abuse, Police Presidium spokeswoman Jana Macalikova told CTK earlier yesterday.
Under the exiting directive, Internet service providers store IP addresses of “one side of the web communication” for six months.
The police propose that the end IP addresses be stored for six months, too.
The police cannot investigate some cases, for instance, child porn, without these data, Macalikova said.
“Without knowing the target IP address, it cannot be found who had stored photos,” Macalikova said.
The change to the directive has been criticised since it would enable the police to more violate the Internet users’ privacy.
The critics have also mentioned the risk of abuse.
However, Police President Tomas Tuhy told CTK that the police must get to the information on end servers to clear up the most serious cases.
In addition, the police would have access to these data only after the court permits it, he added.
“There is clear guarantee to prevent abuse in this case,” Tuhy said.
Chovanec said cyber crime has risen by hundreds of percent recently.
After gaining the BRS’s consent, the amended directive will be subject to a further debate and then the government would assess and possibly approve it.
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