UK Home Secretary proposes wider snooping powers in light of Woolwich attack

UK Home Secretary Theresa May said on Sunday that it is “essential” to grant intelligence agencies the capacity to access communications data, despite overwhelming opposition to the Draft Communications Data Bill, first published last year.

The bill – widely known as the ‘Snooper’s Charter’– is making a comeback, alongside tighter controls on extremist groups, after a proposed stepping-up of Internet surveillance following the Woolwich murder.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg withdrew his support from the bill in April on the grounds that it was an invasion of privacy.

This ‘snooper’s charter’ would have given agencies, including police and intelligence services, access to information and data collection by Internet service providers, including details of individuals’ web browsing history, social media messages and internet gaming, storing them all for 12 months. 

“Intelligence agencies need access,” May told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, going on to confirm that she was pressuring for the passage of the charter in the wake of the vicious attack that killed off-duty soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich.

UK Privacy campaigners have reacted with fury to the proposed measures.

“It is remarkable for politicians to be jumping to legislation to monitor the entire country when all the evidence to date shows this horrific attack would not have been prevented by the communications data bill,” said Emma Carr of the UK’s Big Brother Watch in a statement released on Sunday.

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