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The European Commission's Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society and Media, wants communications recorded for a year.

Citing the success police had in making arrests after the Madrid train bombings, Ms. Reding wants e-mail, phone calls, and other communication records retained for a period not to exceed one year, according to a Reuters report.

The practice would help combat terrorism and fraud within the EU. A similar proposal from several EU member states would have held the data for four years. Both proposals called for the logging of communications, not the retention of the content of those communications.

Currently, phone companies keep those records for three months for billing purposes. Ms. Reding does not favor retaining the records for longer than one year.

Procedurally, once the Commission proposes a law, it has to be approved by member states and the European Parliament jointly. Ms. Reding said this would make the agreement more transparent and allow for issues beyond fighting terrorism.

Ms. Reding has been active in seeking boosts to the information economy of Europe. Her web site discusses priorities for the EU in fostering growth and jobs. In particular, she wants to see the promotion of secure high-speed broadband networks in Europe.

The initiative listed above denotes three priorities for the EU on the topic of the information economy:

1. Creating an open single market for information society and media services
2. Increase EU investment in research on information and communication technologies by 80 percent
3. Promote an inclusive European information society

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.