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Staff at social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter could face up to two years in prison if they tip off customers that they are under surveillance by police or the security services.

The government's draft Investigatory Powers Bill (also known as the "Snooper's Charter") will make the unauthorised disclosure of operations carried out under the provisions of the legislation a criminal offence.

An explanatory note published with the Bill says: "The intent of these provisions is to prevent the so-called 'tipping off' of criminal suspects or subjects of interest that their data has been sought, thus informing them that they are under suspicion."

The move reflects concern among ministers that some telecoms companies have warned suspects that details of their communications data have been requested by police or intelligence agencies.

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A report earlier this year by David Anderson QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism laws, warned that some technology companies preferred to "protect customers' privacy rather than co-operate with governments".

"Some service providers will tip off a customer that they are under surveillance unless persuaded not to do so, typically by a court order," he said.

The draft Investigatory Powers Bill, which was unveiled by Home Secretary Theresa May in November, requires telecommunications companies to hand over data to security services and gives police, GCHQ, MI5 and MI6 unfettered access to records of Brits' web use.

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Tech firms have spoken out against the proposed legislation , which would require tech firms to store users’ data for up to twelve months. They say the legislation would not only hurt trust and transparency but also weaken security.

The boss of Apple, Tim Cook, has warned that giving spies a "back door" to reading people's emails could have " very dire consequences ", providing an access route for hackers and harming consumers by making their data less secure.

Commenting on the news, Antony Walker, deputy chief executive officer at techUK, which represents communications and internet firms, said that preventing companies from being more transparent about the data requests they receive could be counter-productive.

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"A right of redress by the citizen depends upon individuals being notified at some appropriate time that requests have been made to access their data," he said.

"By preventing companies from notifying consumers about requests for access to data the Investigatory Powers Bill risks being out of step with the direction of international law.

"This will make cooperation between jurisdictions more difficult and could slow down the sharing of information between international agencies."