Downing Street briefing resurrects controversial bill tracking individuals’ email, internet and mobile text use

The government appears to have left open the door to the resurrection of the controversial “snooper’s charter” bill to track everyone’s email, internet and mobile text use.

Whitehall sources confirmed that the possibility of legislation remains under discussion despite a declaration by Nick Clegg that the communications data legislation “isn’t going to happen while Lib Dems are in government”. A Downing Street background briefing note on investigating crime in cyberspace published alongside the Queen’s speech says: “We are continuing to look at this issue closely and the government’s approach will be proportionate, with robust safeguards in place.”

The text of the Queen’s speech gives the go-ahead to legislation, if needed, to deal with the limited technical problem of there being many more devices including phones and tablets in use than the number of internet protocol (IP) addresses that allow the police to identify who sent an email or made a Skype call at a given time.

See The Full Article – The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/may/08/queens-speech-snoopers-charter

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