...the government itself — a very different proposition from simply asking ISPs and telecoms companies to hang onto the data for longer than they had previously.
Asked by ZDNet.co.uk on Tuesday if this really was the case, a Home Office spokesperson said: "Ministers have made no decisions on whether a central database will be in that draft bill. Full details of the draft bill will be published later this year."
The Information Commissioner's Office was quick to respond to the prospect of yet another large centralised database of citizens' personal data. "If the intention is to bring all mobile and internet records together under one system, this would give us serious concerns and may well be a step too far," said Jonathan Bamford, the assistant information commissioner. "We are not aware of any justification for the state to hold every UK citizen's phone and internet records. We have real doubts that such a measure can be justified, or is proportionate or desirable."
Bamford called for a public debate on the issue, and for safeguards to "ensure that the data is only used for the proper purpose of detecting crime".
"We have warned before that we are sleepwalking into a surveillance society," he continued. "Holding large collections of data is always risky; the more data that is collected and stored, the bigger the problem when the data is lost, traded or stolen. Defeating crime and terrorism is of the utmost importance, but we are not aware of any pressing need to justify the government itself holding this sort of data."
Data-protection companies also weighed into the debate. "Whilst these plans are a positive step towards tackling terrorism and protecting its citizens, the UK government will need to prove its ability to keep data secure if these proposals are to achieve widespread support," said Brian Spector, general manager of Workshare's content protection group. "Since losing the details of over 25 million child benefit claimants last November, the government has failed to effectively address the issue of data security."
"The project will be expensive, risk failure (as with all large projects) [and] could threaten civil liberties," said Chris Dean, director of the independent IT consultancy DMW Group. "The UK needs to decide whether or not this is a reasonable price to pay for protection from terrorists. If it is decided that we should proceed, the government must make sure it gets the project right first time or this will be much worse than losing child-benefit records. A simple technical design flaw could easily bring a government down."
