British to boost surveillance of Internet

LONDON -- The British government unveiled plans Tuesday to give more officials the power to monitor private e-mail and cell phone records as part of its fight against organized crime and terrorism.

In its proposed changes to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, the government also recommended that telecommunications companies keep information about subscribers for up to one year to assist the detection of terrorist activity.

Civil liberties groups have criticized the much publicized proposals.

Under the existing law, agencies concerned with intelligence, customs, tax and law enforcement have the authority to demand records of e-mail, cell phone and Internet traffic.

The government on Tuesday proposed giving the U.K. Atomic Energy Constabulary, the Scottish Drugs Enforcement Agency and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency the same powers.

It had planned to extend the same powers to other government departments, the fire service, the Royal Mail and the Food Standards Agency but announced Tuesday they will have access only to names and addresses, not to details of calls and e-mails.

"To succeed in allaying fears of a Big Brother approach by public authorities, government needs to secure public confidence that the boundary between privacy and protecting the public is set correctly," Home Office Secretary David Blunkett said.

John Wadham, director of the civil rights group Liberty, said authorities should be required to have a warrant from a judge before they are allowed to access data.

"That's the only truly independent safeguard that can produce public confidence," Wadham said.

The government proposed a voluntary code for communications companies to keep addresses of cell phone subscribers and details of their calls for a year, stressing the importance of such information in the war against terrorism.

It said the location of cell phone users also should be kept for a year, information on text messages for six months and details on Web activity for four days.

Officials said the government would consider making the proposals compulsory if the industry could not agree on a voluntary code.

The Home Office has forwarded proposals for public consultation before they are debated in Parliament.