It will go straight through; we are pretty disenfranchised in this process. The Council of Europe has gotten everything it wanted so far. We will have to focus on national governments now.
I don't think this means that Europe is moving forward on creating a data retention law any time soon. I think the chances are still slim at best. This latest plan only further muddies the issue.
This type of data retention would never fly in the United States because of privacy concerns and because the industry would not allow it. Even in the U.S., the Department of Homeland Security has not been able to mandate this type of retention measure.
The council thought of putting in a data protection clause, which we would have liked, but it was shot down. Now the police can decide to hold on to data gathered on somebody if it is not needed anymore.
One article that says privacy will be protected is not enough. We want clear language in each article stating privacy is important. National governments will pick and choose. They will go to wire-tapping first and get to Article 15 later.
