According to the latest calculations by the the eco-association, the introduction of internet data retention will turn out to be much more expensive to the internet economy than so far assumed. For the storage of dynamic IP addresses and IP forwarding costs are expected to amount to 139 million Euros. Even more costly will probably be the storage of email data which may cost 155 million Euros. In addition there will be the costs for the storage of stock data and internet telephony data which could amount to 25 and 12.5 million Euros respectively.
According to the eco-association, the total sum of 332 million Euros will, however, only cover the acquisition of the hard and software at the most. For the maintenance of the systems involved and staff required there will be additional costs. If lawmakers required additional expensive systems for the protection from unauthorized access to the data retained then the cost forecast would be exceeded many times, say the eco experts.
Internet data retention requires the providers of email services, internet telephony and internet access to store data which these companies do not need for their operational business and which they so far have partly not been authorized to store. Assuming a five-year depreciation period for the technology and the systems involved internet data retention would amount to annual replacement investments of 73.6 million Euros on a continuing basis, criticises the eco association.
In view of the high costs involved which will mainly affect the internet economy which is mostly made up of small and medium-sized entities, eco demands compensation for all the costs caused by the internet data retention, also because the internet economy is subject to international competition. According to eco, neighbouring European countries such as Great Britain and Austria pay compensation for the acquisition of the systems needed for data retention. Furthermore, for the time being Great Britain transposes the new data retention directive in national law without the storage of internet access, email and internet telephony data while Germany wants to introduce the new rules already as of January 1st 2008. 