Arstechnica.com reports that under current law, communications providers are required to retain certain kinds of data about their customers for a year, and to make that data available in response to government subpoenas. Under the new proposal, these records would have to be automatically submitted to a centralized government database.

The plan is being drafted by the British Home Office, which performs many of the same functions as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The Home Office claims that new legislation is needed to cope with changes in the way Britons communicate, the article states. The government points to the increased use of e-mail, instant messaging, and other communications technologies, which it claims are hampering lawful surveillance.

On her blog, Crawford points out that the U.K.'s data retention laws, which have been in place since October 2007, "require phone companies to hang onto phone and text records, and this next step would make all of that data plus email, Internet usage, and VoIP data available in a single place - accessible by a mid-level policeman who wanted to know more about his traffic-stop suspect."

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