The Communications Data Bill was intended to create powers to collect data concerning people's phone, e-mail and web-browsing habits for
mass surveillance in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. The
government database A government database collects information for various reasons, including climate monitoring, securities law compliance, geological surveys, patent applications and grants, surveillance, national security, border control, law enforcement, public hea ...
would have included telephone numbers dialed, the websites visited and addresses to which e-mails are sent but not the text of e-mails or recorded telephone conversations.
Since October 2007
telecommunication companies have been required to keep records of phone calls and text messages for twelve months. The bill would have extended the coverage to Internet website visited, email messages, and
VOIP
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...
data.
Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat Home affairs spokesman said at the time: "The government's
Orwellian
"Orwellian" is an adjective describing a situation, idea, or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free and open society. It denotes an attitude and a brutal policy of draconian control by pro ...
plans for a vast database of our private communications are deeply worrying."
The plans were not completed during the Labour administration, but intentions to gain access to more communications data lived on under the coalition elected in 2010 as the
Communications Capabilities Development Programme run by the
Home Office's
Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism
Homeland Security Group is an executive directorate of the UK government Home Office, created in 2007, responsible for leading the work on counter-terrorism in the UK, working closely with the police and security services. The office reports to t ...
. In 2012, a new
Draft Communications Data Bill was published.
See also
*
Interception Modernisation Programme
The Interception Modernisation Programme (IMP) was a UK government initiative to extend the government's capabilities for lawful interception and storage of communications data. It was widely reported that the IMP's eventual goal was to store detai ...
*
Mass surveillance in the United Kingdom
The use of electronic surveillance by the United Kingdom grew from the development of signal intelligence and pioneering code breaking during World War II. In the post-war period, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) was formed ...
References
* {{cite document, title=Draft Communications Data Bill, url=http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN04884, publisher=House of Commons Library, access-date=16 July 2016, date=6 January 2009, last1=Danby, first1=Grahame
Surveillance
Government databases in the United Kingdom
Law enforcement techniques
Counterterrorism in the United Kingdom
Mass surveillance
National security policies
Proposed laws of the United Kingdom
Surveillance databases
2008 in British law
Home Office (United Kingdom)
GCHQ