[Richas]

This was initially controversial in the UK but is now pretty well established with ISPs and Cellphone companies required to store the data for at least 2 years.

Access to the data on individuals is only by court order. There are clear civil liberties concerns not least because the use of triangulation from phone masts can pinpoint individuals location quite accurately. Two high profile media cases involved the use of phone location - the Soham child murders where the victims records helped lead to the perp and the Damiolla Taylor murder case where the phone records suggested that those on trial were not close enough to have committed the attack, a vital part of their successful defence.

This is a hugely powerful law enforcement tool which I was initially very concerned about but given probable cause I am increasingly coming to the conclusion that access to phone and Internet records should be available to the authorities. This could be crucial post terrorist attacks to find co-conspirators and post the Madrid bombings it was phone records that led to the terrorists location.