May defends internet surveilance

Lives will be saved by new internet powers allowing security services and police to snoop on emails, web visits, and social networking sites, UK Home Secretary Theresa May has said. There are proposals to demand internet providers and other information service providers retain record of all communications, to which police and security services will have access, for 12 months. Such powers will help to tackle serious organised crime and help police track paedophiles, terrorists, and criminals, she told The Sun newspaper Monday. "People who say they are against this bill need to look victims of serious crime, terrorism, and child sex offences in the eye and tell them why they're not prepared to give the police the powers they need to protect the public. "Anybody who is against this bill is putting politics before people's lives. Defending the proposals even more strongly, "We would certainly see criminals going free as a result of this," she argued, adding that the bill is not a "snoopers' charter". "It is absolutely not government wanting to read everybody's emails - we will not be looking at every web page everybody has looked at." Police, the security services, the new National Crime Agency, and Revenue and Customs (HMRC) (tax authorities) will be able to access the data, but the draft Communications Data Bill also gives the Home Secretary the power to extend access to others, such as the UK Border Agency.