Law enforcement agencies have been granted greater powers to intercept people's private communications by the European Parliament.
They will be able to eavesdrop on telephone calls, read private e-mails and intercept other electronic communications.
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The European Parliament passed watered-down data protection and privacy rules after bowing to pressure from European governments.
The new legislation will give anti-terrorist investigators greater powers to eavesdrop on private data.
EU governments were also given the power to force internet and phone companies to retain data logs of its clients beyond the normal one or two-month billing period.
The EU assembly says governments can ask companies to retain data for an unspecific "limited time" if they determine it necessary "to safeguard national security".
Civil liberty groups and many EU lawmakers fear the restrictions will severely weaken privacy legislation.
"Looking at the results, this amounts to a large amount of restriction on privacy and increases the powers of the state," said Italian independent member Mr Marco Cappato, who authored the bill but who failed to stop the amended clause from being inserted.
In a letter to EU lawmakers before the vote, a group of 40 civil liberties groups warned that giving retention powers to governments could have "disastrous consequences for the most sensitive and confidential types of personal data".
AP