A central cyber security office to watch over the continent’s information security is being proposed by European Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding. This proposal comes after her move to block the creation of a central database storing private communications of the UK’s citizens.

Although an EU agency for network and information security exists, called ENISA, Reding believes its role will still primarily be an information exchange agency and will not in the long run be able to cope and respond as the EU’s primary defense against cyber security attacks. She believes a central officer for information security, a “Mister Cyber Security”, is needed to act immediately if an attack is present, and to coordinate various groups to develop strategies against these threats.

This announcement came as Reding met with other European government leaders in Estonia to talk about Internet security policies for the entire continent, as well as the idea of establishing of a form of Internet governance for Europe. Meanwhile, the UK Home Office has backed out of its plans to create a database that would contain logged online conversations of its citizens that would have to be provided by the different Internet service providers in UK. The EC has responded harshly to this proposal, issuing a warning to the British government that threatened to take this issue to court in Belgium. The EC was worried that this information has the immense potential of being misused.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith stated that the use of details regarding a communication, and not the actual content of it, was a vital tool that could have been used by police and security agencies in certain crucial emergencies which may threaten the general public. However, she admits that  the use of such data may affect the way the communication data may be used for other purposes, and that it is a great risk nonetheless.

Minister for UK Security and Counter-terrorism Vernon Coaker had claimed that the database was in fact needed to comply with an EU directive ordering governments to store all personally identifiable information be kept for at least 12 months, but critics claim that this may be an attempt to insert government checks in private Internet communications and may be using the EU directive as a scapegoat. The government had claimed that many safeguards have been planned, such as mandating when and where this data may be used (only in emergency situations) and who can access this data (limited to special prosecutors specifically for the situation).