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Monday, 2 April 2012

UK govt. mulls new Internet spying laws

The British government is planning to expand it powers to spy on online activities, authorizing the police and security services to monitor email exchanges and website visits of every person in Britain. Under legislation expected in next month’s Queen’s Speech, Internet companies would be required to install hardware which would allow the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), a British intelligence agency also referred to as Britain's electronic ‘listening’ agency, to gain access to British people’s communications data. The details of any phone call, email exchange, and website visit would be available to the British police and security services so that the government would be able to “protect the public,” reported the Sunday Times. “It is vital that police and security services are able to obtain communications data,” said a Home Office spokesperson. "Communications data includes time, duration and dialing numbers of a phone call, or an email address,” he added. The Home Office also said that the law would be passed “as soon as parliamentary time allows.”...read more>>>...