Major surveillance measures proposed by Conservatives

Internet and phone companies will be obliged to keep a record of every website visited by everyone in Britain for 12 months, under sweeping new surveillance measures proposed by the Conservative government yesterday. Police and security services would be allowed to view such data without a warrant but would need explicit permission to access more detailed information, such as the actual web pages viewed by individuals.

The requirement to store information on all websites visited has been rejected in the United States and in every other EU country as too intrusive, but British home secretary Theresa May insisted it was "simply the modern equivalent of an itemised phone bill".

Introducing the Investigatory Powers Bill in the House of Commons, Mrs May acknowledged for the first time that British governments have since 1994 been issuing secret directives to internet companies to hand over bulk internet data to the security services.

Thwarted attack

The new Bill would make these powers, which she claimed had helped to thwart a planned terrorist attack on the London Stock Exchange in 2010, more explicit.

“The task of law enforcement and the security and intelligence agencies has become vastly more demanding in this digital age. It is right, therefore, that those who are charged with protecting us should have the powers they need to do so, but it is the role of government and parliament to ensure that there are limits to those powers.”

Warrants for the most intrusive surveillance would be issued by the home secretary but they would need to be approved by a new panel of judges. Mrs May could only act on her own where there was an imminent threat to life.

Other safeguards include restrictions on the data accessed by local authorities, the need for judicial authorisation of surveillance of contacts between journalists and their sources, and the requirement of prime ministerial approval of any surveillance of MPs.

Poisoning minds

“There should be no area of cyberspace which is a haven for those who seek to harm us to plot, poison minds and peddle hatred under the radar. But I am also clear that the exercise and scope of investigatory powers should be clearly set out and subject to stringent safeguards and robust oversight, including ‘double-lock’ authorisation for the most intrusive capabilities. This Bill will establish world-leading oversight to govern an investigatory powers regime which is more open and transparent than anywhere else in the world,” Mrs May said.

Shadow home secretary Andy Burnham welcomed the Bill, saying it was "neither a snooper's charter nor a plan for mass surveillance", and indicating Labour would offer broad support. He said that, with international and domestic threats, parliament could not afford to leave blind spots in cyberspace where the authorities cannot see.