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 Communication companies had been required to retain data for 12
months under a 2006 European Union directive which was thrown out in
April by the European Court of Justice which said it infringed human
rights.
The scrapping of the directive could deprive police and intelligence
agencies of access to information about who customers contacted by
phone, text or email, and where and when, the British coalition
government said.
Such information had been used by the security services in every
counter-terrorism investigation in the last decade, and it was vital
these powers were not compromised when there was growing concern
over Britons traveling to Iraq and Syria to join militant Islamist
groups, the government added.
Prime Minister David Cameron stressed the emergency law would only
restore existing powers and enshrine them in law, ensuring
investigations would not be hampered and giving protection to the
telecom firms from possible legal challenges.
The measures would not give the authorities any new powers to access
Britons' personal data or the content of their calls or emails, he
added.
"No government introduces fast track legislation lightly. But the
consequences of not acting are grave," Cameron said in a statement.
"I want to be very clear that we are not introducing new powers or
capabilities – that is not for this Parliament. This is about
restoring two vital measures ensuring that our law enforcement and
intelligence agencies maintain the right tools to keep us all safe."
PRIVACY CONCERNS
The emergency security legislation, which has the support of all
three major parties, will include a termination clause meaning it
will expire in 2016, forcing lawmakers to look at the measures in
detail again before then.
The measures come in the wake of revelations by former U.S.
intelligence contractor Edward Snowden about the British
authorities' snooping activities, and privacy campaigners said they
were worried about the implications of the new law.
"It is a basic principle of a free society that you don’t monitor
people who are not under suspicion," Emma Carr, acting director of
Big Brother Watch said in a statement.
"We need to get back to a point where the police monitor people who
are actually suspected of wrongdoing and rather than wasting
millions every year requiring data to be stored on an indiscriminate
basis."
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The government said the proposed legislation would establish a
Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, based on a U.S. model,
to ensure civil liberties were properly taken into account in
counter-terrorism policies.
It also said the number of bodies that could approach telecoms and
internet firms for data would be restricted, and there would be an
annual transparency report to make information more widely available
on surveillance powers used by the state.
The government failed last year to bring in a Communications Data
bill, dubbed a "snoopers charter", which would have secured the
West's most far-reaching surveillance powers in the face of
widespread opposition.
Senior police and security chiefs had argued that unless they were
given new powers to monitor online activities, militants and crooks
would exploit new forms of communication technology such as Facebook
and Skype.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, leader of the center Liberal
Democrats, the junior partner in the coalition government, blocked
those plans saying they were not proportionate or workable.
But he backed the new emergency legislation. "We know the
consequences of not acting are serious, but this urgency will not be
used as an excuse for more powers, or for a ‘snooper’s charter’," he
said.
(Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Heavens)
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