Big Browser is not only watching you but now it is threatening to keep a record of all internet and phone activity in Europe for up to seven years, claims the civil liberties group Statewatch.
The group claims the Council of the European Union is pushing to introduce measures that would force internet service providers and phone companies to keep records of all communications for many years.
Even though the content of emails and phone conversations would not be recorded, civil liberties groups are worried. They say that other information such as an email header, which shows who is talking to who and the route the email took could produce a culture of guilt by association.
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Other information to be archived would be URLs of web pages visited, news groups and numbers dialled. This information would then be made available for the police and other security agencies in gathering criminal intelligence.
Fishing trip
If successful this would be 鈥渆xtremely dangerous鈥�, according to Caspar Bowden, director of the Foundation for Information Policy Research, in London.
鈥淭hese proposals would allow fishing expeditions into the online activity, browsing habits, and internet associations of every citizen in the EU for up to seven years,鈥� explained Bowden. And, he says, they could do this without any warrant or court order.
鈥淎uthoritarian and totalitarian states would be condemned for violating human rights and civil liberties if they initiated such practices,鈥� said Tony Bunyan editor of Statewatch. 鈥淭he fact that it is being proposed in the 鈥榙emocratic鈥� EU does not make it any less authoritarian.鈥�
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