How does “Data Preservation” differ from “Data Retention”?
The term “data retention” has been used (particularly in Europe) to mean general retention by telecommunications service providers of data on all customers, not just those under suspicion of criminal behaviour. In contrast, the Canadian government has used the term “data preservation” to refer to orders for the retention of data about a specific individual who is the subject of an investigation. A Preservation Order would allow law enforcement to require telecom service providers to preserve communications sent to, or from, a party specific to the order. The Preservation Order would effectively require the telecom service provider to start surveillance and collect information on the party named in the order. Critics have suggested that although these approaches are significantly different in theory, they may not be in practice. In other words, data preservation could become data retention in practice, if generalized data retention is the least expensive way for telecommunications servi
