This article titled “UK internet providers may yet be required to keep browsing data” was written by Owen Bowcott, for theguardian.com on Friday 30th October 2015 14.06 UTCJohn Fawcett has joined the firm as Partner
A requirement that telecommunication firms retain the online browsing history, known in security and legal circles as a weblog, of their customers for a 12-month period was a key feature of the so-called snooper’s charter that was blocked by Liberal Democrats in the last parliament.
The latest bout of lobbying by senior police officers for mandatory retention of internet connection records suggests it will now re-appear in the investigatory powers bill which is due to be published next week.
David Anderson QC, the influential independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, has not been positive about such an enhancement of search powers. No other EU or Commonwealth country requires the blanket retention of weblogs, he has pointed out; the practice was recently prohibited by law in Australia.
Anderson has commented that “a detailed operational case” needs to be made out for retaining weblogs along with a rigorous assessment of the ”lawfulness, likely effectiveness, intrusiveness and cost” involved.
Weblogs record which sites users have visited, though they do not keep track of what was was viewed on those websites.
By imposing a duty to retain weblogs, the intelligence services are hoping to aid their investigations with material from UK-based broadband, mobile phone and internet service providers. Overseas internet companies often prove less helpful in responding to requests.
Any requirement that firms retain browsing histories for a year is likely to be presented with Home Office assurances that it will be carefully controlled by additional safeguards preventing mass surveillance.
GCHQ, the government’s monitoring agency, and the intelligence services say they carry out bulk interception of online data only in order to investigate or read those who are the subject of search warrants.
But civil liberty groups and privacy campaigners have responded with alarm at the prospect of a key feature of the snooper’s charter being reintroduced.
Rachel Robinson, the policy officer for Liberty, said: “It defies belief that the government continues to seek powers so extraordinarily intrusive that none of our major intelligence allies think them acceptable to use on their people.
“These measures have already been rejected by a cross-party parliamentary committee and the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation. We will resist them in the strongest terms and urge right-thinking parliamentarians to do the same.”
Another significant issue likely to be resolved by the investigatory powers bill is whether judicial oversight of interception warrants should be introduced or whether the power to authorise them will remain with ministers.
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