Government Lay Out Plans For Internet Monitoring

New government plans to monitor internet usage have been laid out. These will include details of internet use in the UK being stored for a year to allow police and intelligence services to access it.

Records will include people's activity on social network sites, webmail, internet phone calls and online gaming.

Home Secretary Theresa May said the change was needed to keep up with how criminals were using new technology.

However senior Tory David Davis said it was "incredibly intrusive" and would only "catch the innocent and incompetent".

The Communications Bill is to be published in draft form on Thursday - but the government faces a battle to get it through Parliament intact, with Lib Dem MPs and Conservatives such as Mr Davis calling for it to be watered down or abandoned altogether.

Civil liberties campaigners have branded the proposals a "snooper's charter".

"It's good that local councils won't be able to watch the entire population but even law enforcement should be targeting suspects - not all citizens,” Rachel Robinson, policy officer for Liberty, said.

Adding that: "Just like the internet, any private home can be a crime scene, but should we install hidden cameras and microphones in every bedroom in the land?"

(H)