The government has snuck in new proposals to investigate cybercrime in the Queen's Speech, after the controversial Communications Data Bill was dropped.
The Bill, dubbed a 'Snooping Charter' by critics, was to allow unparalleled interception of data about UK citizens' online communications and voice calls, was to cost1.8bn, and was described as "vital" in putting a stop to cybercrime by Home Secretary Theresa May.
Further reading
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But at the end of April, deputy prime minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said that the proposals for the Bill would not go ahead while his party remains in power.
The latest proposals request that the law enforcement and intelligence agencies have the powers they need to protect the public and ensure national security. Just like the 'Snooping Charter', it suggests that these agencies use the "who, when, where and how of a communication" but not the content within that data to investigate and prosecute for serious crimes.
The proposal goes on to emphasise that this "is not about indiscriminately accessing internet data of innocent members of the public".
Currently, police can identify who has made a telephone call or sent an SMS text message, and when and where. However, they cannot do the same for email, internet telephony, instant messaging or other internet-based services as communications service providers don't retain all of the relevant data.
"When communicating over the internet, people are allocated an IP address. However, these addresses are generally shared between a number of people," the proposal said.
"In order to know who has actually sent an email or made a Skype call, the police need to know who used a certain IP address at a given point in time. Without this, if a suspect used the internet to communicate instead of making a phone call, it may not be possible for the police to identify them."
The government said it is looking at ways of addressing this issue with service providers and that this may involve new legislation.
Concerns had been raised by MPs about the Communications Data Bill representing a huge invasion of privacy that could be exploited by criminals. The inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, claimed that the plans were "draconian".
Gary Hough, a member of the Internet Services Providers Association (ISPA), had told Computing that a major concern was that those working on the proposal could not comprehend technical issues.
The current proposals are likely to spark more debate about the necessity for service providers to keep hold of data, and the likelihood of the data being used for reasons other than those disclosed.
