This was just posted on Yahoo! News. Apparently the UK was able to push an “anti-terror” agenda through the EU:

European Union lawmakers approved measures to allow police greater access to telephone and Internet data to help fight terrorism and serious crime in the 25-state bloc.

The measures would oblige businesses to keep details about callers, such as whom they spoke to, where and when, for between six months and two years. EU states with longer retention periods in place would be allowed to keep them.

The laws would apply to land telephone lines and mobile phones, text messages and Internet protocols. No record of the conversation or message itself would be kept.

EU countries would have the option of keeping information about unanswered calls, details of which proved decisive in the probe into the Madrid train bombings last year.

The conclusion raises a number of interesting questions:

Despite initial disagreement over the scope of the measures, the costs and who should pay them — companies or member states — and the duration of data retention, the deputies passed the measures by a clear majority.

Before the assembly convened in Strasbourg, the leaders of the main political groups had agreed to accept a series of late amendments compiled by EU justice ministers at the beginning of the month.

The author of the report on which the measures were based, liberal deputy Alexander Nuno Alvaro, was angered by the move and denounced what he said was “pressure” on the lawmakers.

He also demanded that his name be withdrawn from the final text.

What was the original text and what were the amendments? Why the rush?