Theresa May: data law could have helped catch more paedophiles

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/10/theresa-may-data-law-catch-paedophiles

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The home secretary, Theresa May, has told a child abuse summit that so-called snooper’s charter laws could have helped law enforcement officers catch more paedophiles online.

May told representatives from more than 50 countries, 23 technology companies and nine non-governmental organisations that gaps remained in law enforcement and intelligence agencies’ capabilities to track down child abusers.

She told the gathering at Lancaster House in London that the government’s draft communications data bill, which was dropped in the face of Liberal Democrat opposition, could have been used to fight child sex offenders online.

The home secretary said: “There are still gaps in our law enforcement and intelligence agencies’ capabilities.

“This means that those agencies may, for example, still struggle to identify those who have been accessing servers hosting illegal images of child sexual abuse.

“I remain passionately convinced that our ability to fight back against networks of child abusers – not to mention protecting national security – means that we need to address these gaps, as set out in the government’s draft communications data bill published in 2012.”

May’s comments are another clear signal that a Conservative-majority government would revive the communications data bill if it were to come to power at the next general election.

Last month new powers were announced for police to force internet firms to hand over details that could help identify suspected terrorists and paedophiles.

The counter-terrorism and security bill will oblige internet service providers to retain information linking internet protocol addresses to individual users.