The Australian government is considering obligating operators and ISPs to keep records for three months, as part of a move to align the nation's cybercrime laws with international standards.
Australia is considering signing up to the Council of Europe Prevention of Cybercrime treaty, which would require the introduction of some legislative changes, attorney general Robert McClelland announced in a discussion paper.
The treaty already has the participation of 45 member nations, including non-European countries such as Japan, the US and Canada.
It aims to make international enforcement of internet-related offenses – including fraud, child pornography and international copyright violation – easier to pursue.
As part of the obligations, governments are required to be able to order ISPs and other organizations to retain stored data for up to 90 days, and legislate a process of obtaining access to this information.
The planned legal changes will meanwhile make it easier for foreign enforcement agencies to request this data, as well as details gathered through call interception and e-mail and data surveillance.
Telcos and ISPs have already agreed to comply with the proposed new regime, the Australianreported.
But although the treaty currently specifies data retention for 90 days, Australian attorney-general Robert McClelland on Friday toldZDNet Australia thatbilateral talks with the US could result in this being increased to one year.
Some European nations want to go even further, increasing the minimum to as long as five years, but McClelland said both Australia and the US consider that to be excessive.