I will now become slightly more technical in my approach, and as I said previously I hope it will show the importance of access to traffic data not only for the success of criminal investigations but also to protect individuals from crimes committed using technological means. Data on Internet traffic includes different types of information which may vary depending on the kind of Internet service used. Usually all Internet connections have an IP address attached to the message. Addresses are either static or dynamic. Other traffic data on Internet sessions include the time, time zone, Internet subscription and log-in.
Some data only appear if e-mail or navigation software is used.
When a message is sent on a telecommunications network via a modem connection, it is given a dynamic IP address if there are not enough IP addresses available at the time. An IP address may thus be used several times and may be attributed to different messages. Consequently, to check the origins of an Internet message several types of traffic data must be processed. So in order to locate a modem connection on the communications network, the IP address and the exact time have to be identified. That information is then sent to the service provider, who is the only one who can link the IP address and time with the Internet and telephone subscriptions used.