London: UK’s Home Secretary Theresa May has said that plans to monitor Britons online activity will save lives allowing security services and police to snoop on emails, web visits and social networking sites.
Under the proposals, Internet and other information service providers will be required to retain records of all communications, to which police and security services will have access to for 12 months.
May told the Sun that the powers will help to tackle serious organized crime and help police track paedophiles, terrorists and criminals.
"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,” she said.
"Anybody who is against this bill is putting politics before people``s lives,” the Telegraph quoted May, as saying.
"We would certainly see criminals going free as a result of this," she said.
She added that the bill is not a ‘snoopers’ charter’, but ‘it is absolutely not government wanting to read everybody``s emails - we will not be looking at every web page everybody has looked at’.
According to the report, police, the security services, the new National Crime Agency and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) 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 UKBA. (ANI)
IANS
