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Police may get more data powers Giant database plan 'Orwellian'
(about 2 hours later)
Jacqui Smith has set out plans to give the police and security services more powers to gather phone and e-mail data. Proposals for a central database of all mobile phone and internet traffic have been condemned as "Orwellian".
The home secretary said police risked losing the ability to fight crime and terrorism without new laws. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the police and security services needed new powers to keep up with technology.
The government is considering creating a giant database to store details of every UK phone call and e-mail sent. And she promised that the content of conversations would not be stored, just times and dates of messages and calls.
Ms Smith stressed the "content" of conversations would not be stored but she wanted a national debate on what new powers should be introduced. But the Lib Dems slammed the idea as "incompatible with a free country", while the Tories called on the government to justify its plans.
And she warned that without increasing their capacity to store data, the police and security services would have to consider a "massive expansion of surveillance". Details of the times, dates, duration and locations of mobile phone calls, numbers called, website visited and addresses e-mailed are already stored by telecoms companies for 12 months under a voluntary agreement.
Plans to collect more data on people's phone, e-mail and web-browsing habits are expected to be included in the Communications Data Bill, due to be introduced in the Queen's Speech in November. The data can be accessed by the police and security services on request - but the government plans to take control of the process in order to comply with an EU directive and make it easier for investigators to do their job.
Information will be kept for two years by law and may be held centrally on a searchable database.
Without increasing their capacity to store data, the police and security services would have to consider a "massive expansion of surveillance," Ms Smith said in a speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research earlier.
'Vital capability''Vital capability'
In a speech to the Institute of Public Policy Research, Ms Smith said: "Our ability to intercept communications and obtain communications data is vital to fighting terrorism and combating serious crime, including child sex abuse, murder and drugs trafficking. She said: "Our ability to intercept communications and obtain communications data is vital to fighting terrorism and combating serious crime, including child sex abuse, murder and drugs trafficking.
"Communications Data - that is, data about calls, such as the location and identity of the caller, not the content of the calls themselves - is used as important evidence in 95% of serious crime cases and in almost all Security Service operations since 2004. "Communications data - that is, data about calls, such as the location and identity of the caller, not the content of the calls themselves - is used as important evidence in 95% of serious crime cases and in almost all security service operations since 2004.
There are no plans for an enormous database which will contain the content of your emails, the texts that you send or the chats you have on the phone or online Jacqui Smith Analysis: Behind the times?There are no plans for an enormous database which will contain the content of your emails, the texts that you send or the chats you have on the phone or online Jacqui Smith Analysis: Behind the times?
"But the communications revolution has been rapid in this country and the way in which we intercept communications and collect communications data needs to change too."But the communications revolution has been rapid in this country and the way in which we intercept communications and collect communications data needs to change too.
"If it does not we will lose this vital capability that we currently have and that, to a certain extent, we all take for granted."If it does not we will lose this vital capability that we currently have and that, to a certain extent, we all take for granted.
"The capability that enabled us to convict Ian Huntley for the Soham murders and that enabled us to achieve the convictions of those responsible for the 21/7 terrorist plots against London.""The capability that enabled us to convict Ian Huntley for the Soham murders and that enabled us to achieve the convictions of those responsible for the 21/7 terrorist plots against London."
She said the "changes we need to make may require legislation" and there may even have to be legislation "to test what a solution to this problem will look like".She said the "changes we need to make may require legislation" and there may even have to be legislation "to test what a solution to this problem will look like".
There will also be new laws to protect civil liberties, she added, and she announced a public consultation starting in the New Year on the plans. There will also be new laws to protect civil liberties, Ms Smith added, and she announced a public consultation starting in the New Year on the plans.
"I want this to be combined with a well-informed debate characterised by openness, rather than mere opinion, by reason and reasonableness," she told the IPPR."I want this to be combined with a well-informed debate characterised by openness, rather than mere opinion, by reason and reasonableness," she told the IPPR.
'Necessity''Necessity'
One option being considered by the government is the creation of a single, centralised database containing records of all telephone numbers called, time and location of calls, websites visited and e-mail addresses used by UK citizens. These proposals are incompatible with a free country and a free people Chris Huhne Lib Dem home affairs
The idea has provoked concern among experts, including the government's own reviewer of anti-terror laws, Lord Carlile, who said: "The raw idea of simply handing over all this information to any government, however benign, and sticking it in an electronic warehouse is an awful idea if there are not very strict controls about it." Ms Smith attempted to reassure people that the content of their e-mails and phone conversations would not be stored.
But Ms Smith moved to reassure people that there were no plans to monitor and store the content of all e-mails and phone conversations.
"There are no plans for an enormous database which will contain the content of your emails, the texts that you send or the chats you have on the phone or online."There are no plans for an enormous database which will contain the content of your emails, the texts that you send or the chats you have on the phone or online.
"Nor are we going to give local authorities the power to trawl through such a database in the interest of investigating lower level criminality under the spurious cover of counter terrorist legislation."Nor are we going to give local authorities the power to trawl through such a database in the interest of investigating lower level criminality under the spurious cover of counter terrorist legislation.
"Local authorities do not have the power to listen to your calls now and they never will in future. You would rightly object to proposals of this kind and I would not consider them."Local authorities do not have the power to listen to your calls now and they never will in future. You would rightly object to proposals of this kind and I would not consider them.
"What we will be proposing will be options which follow the key principles which govern all our work in this area - the principles of proportionality and necessity.""What we will be proposing will be options which follow the key principles which govern all our work in this area - the principles of proportionality and necessity."
Lord Erroll, of the all-party Parliamentary group on communications, and the all party internet group, said he was concerned about the idea of a single database. But the idea of storing phone and e-mail records has provoked concern among experts.
"I just feel if you centralise all this data in one place, people then have the power to search and could make the wrong inferences - they could draw the wrong conclusions - from some of the stuff they look at. And if they want to have a go at someone it makes it much easier to do so," said the peer, who founded the telecoms company VoiceXchange. The government's own reviewer of anti-terror laws, Lord Carlile, said: "The raw idea of simply handing over all this information to any government, however benign, and sticking it in an electronic warehouse is an awful idea if there are not very strict controls about it."
/> 		The plans are expected to be included in the Communications Data Bill, due to be introduced in the Queen's Speech in November.
'Soft soap' claim
Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve, for the Conservatives, said he welcomed Ms Smith's consultative approach but added her speech "begs mores questions than it answers".
"These proposals would mark a substantial shift in the powers of the state to obtain personal information on individuals," he said, adding: "The government must present convincing justification for such an exponential increase in the powers of the state."
Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "The government's Orwellian plans for a vast database of our private communications are deeply worrying.
"I hope that this consultation is not just a sham exercise to soft-soap an unsuspecting public."
He said the government had repeatedly shown it could not be trusted with sensitive data, adding: "There is little reason to think ministers will be any less slapdash with our phone and internet records.
"Ministers claim the database will only be used in terrorist cases, but there is now a long list of cases, from the arrest of Walter Wolfgang for heckling at a Labour conference to the freezing of Icelandic assets, where anti-terrorism law has been used for purposes for which it was not intended."
"Our experience of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act suggests these powers will soon be used to spy on people's children, pets and bins.
"These proposals are incompatible with a free country and a free people."
Should the police and security services be given the power to collect and store phone and email data? Do you work for the police or security services? How useful a tool would this be? Send us your comments using the form below:Should the police and security services be given the power to collect and store phone and email data? Do you work for the police or security services? How useful a tool would this be? Send us your comments using the form below:
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