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Ere Chaos,
They're gonna be watching you, so stop looking at the dodgy websites!
Safe or sorry?
Tracking every phone call, text, email and internet use in Britain in real time would be a step too far for the British way of life, warns Richard Thomas, the UK Information Commissioner.
The Information Commissioner does not stop there.
I am absolutely clear that the targeted, and duly authorised, interception of the communications of suspects can be invaluable in the fight against terrorism and other serious crime. But there needs to be the fullest public debate about the justification for, and implications of, a specially-created database, potentially accessible to a wide range of law enforcement authorities, holding details of everyones telephone and internet communications.
Do we really want the police, security services and other organs of the state to have access to more and more aspects of our private lives?
Richard Thomas, Information Commissioner
A Home Office project team is developing the plan for a system that would use new techniques to monitor phone lines and the internet to store details on every individual's browsing and communications traffic. Though it is reported by sources that this will not include the recording of the content of internet communications it will enable the police to build a profile of an individual and their network of contacts.
The proposal is still at a discussion stage between the Home Office and the telecommunications and internet industries. However, it is worth noting that the government's draft legislative programme for later this year includes a data communications bill which the Home Office acknowledges may include the legal power to set up such a central database and a public authority to administer it.
A Home Office spokesman said a central database would save the police approaching hundreds of internet service providers to see if they held data on suspects.
The changes to the way we communicate, due particularly to the internet revolution, will increasingly undermine our current capabilities to obtain communications data and use it to protect the public. Losing the ability to use this data would have very serious consequences for law enforcement and intelligence gathering in the UK.
Home Office spokesman
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Chaos for Moderator. 
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