Christopher Furlong / Staff

Internet service providers will have to store the details of every website people visited for 12 months if the new draft Investigatory Powers Bill is passed, the government has confirmed.

The measure was announced by Home Secretary Theresa May in the House of Commons and is included in a raft of new powers intended to reform the way MI5, MI6, GCHQ, and others use surveillance powers.


May said that "communication records up to 12 months" will have to be stored by internet and communications service providers.

This means the individual webpage -- "just the front page of the websites," in May's words -- will be kept. She distinguished between domains visited and "content" -- including individual pages, searches and other information -- which will not be stored.

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In a lengthy statement to parliament, May reiterated that the powers were intended to allow security services to protect the public, and particularly children, against threats including terrorism, organised crime and sexual predators.

She said the 299 page bill, which has been published online by the government, would be accompanied by "world leading oversight arrangements".


The bill's measures include:

Internet data will be retained in the form of an "itemised shopping list," with details of websites visited but not specific pages stored by internet service providers

A new investigatory powers commissioner will oversee the new powers

Warrants for surveillance will be issued by ministers but only acted on when approved by judges, what May called a "double lock"

Make provisions for intelligence agencies to acquire information in bulk

Formalise the Wilson Doctrine, meaning the communications of MPs can't be accessed without approval from the Prime Minister

However, she said the bill was not a return to the snoopers' charter, will not ban encryption and will not require the retention of third party data. May told the Commons that the government had engaged with civil liberty groups and technical experts, adding there had been a "significant departure from the proposals from the past".

Labour's Andy Burnham, whose party supports the reforms, said that "strong powers must be balanced by strong safeguards for the public" to protect privacy. "This is neither a snooper's charter nor a plan of mass surveillance," he said adding that the issue goes "way beyond party politics".

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Before the bill was detailed, critics of government surveillance said the planned changes would impact upon the privacy of individuals. The Open Rights Group said retaining all web history was a "step too far".


Before May announced the legislation David Cameron, during Prime Minister's Questions, said it was "vital" that communications data could be used to help catch "rapists, child abductors" and other criminals. He also stated that it was his belief the draft bill was "one of the most important bills this House will discuss".

The main provisions in the bill are:

Oversight

Existing regulatory bodies will be be replaced by a new Investigatory Powers Commissioner.

The commissioner will be supported by senior judges who will act as judicial commissioners. The team of commissioners will be responsible for approving the issue of interception, hacking and warrants.

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However, a government minister will make the first decision on warrants and can bypass a judges approval if the need for surveillance is urgent.

Interception

The bill will consolidate interception powers that exist under the RIPA and Wireless Telegraph Act.

The judicial commissioner must, approval warrants for interception of communications.

Communications data

The retention of communications data and powers will be brought one piece of legislation.

However, communications data will be able to be accessed by officials without a warrant. They will be able to look at data of websites visited, but not individual pages without a warrant. If a warrant is obtained then the individual pages will be accessible.

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Hacking

Authorities will have the legal powers to run 'specific equipment interference,' this bolsters provisions which only existed in guidelines before this.

All police forces, as well as the security agencies, will be able to hack into devices, and "more sensitive and intrusive techniques" will be covered by a separate code of practice.

Bulk Powers

Bulk interception, which has previously not been authorised will now be legitimised under law, this will most likely relate to communications data.

Bulk warrants can only be obtained by security agencies, not police forces. For a warrant for bulk enforcement authorities will have to prove that it is in the interests of national security, they will also have to be approved by a judicial commissioner and there must be an operation purpose when it is accessed.

Background to the bill

The publication of the draft bill follows several weeks of speculation, leaks, and rumours about its contents. The ongoing debate has seen the government argue its position for reforms of all the investigatory powers available to security services, and other public bodies such as police.

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On a broad scale the new legislation looks to bolster the powers of security agencies but will also reform messy and complicated legislation surrounding the powers.

It has been drawn up based on more than 200 recommendations from three separate reports looking at existing laws and their effectiveness. Some of these will be rejected and others will have been adopted in the new draft bill that has been announced.

David Anderson QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism, the Royal United Service Institute, and also the Intelligence and Security Committee have all scrutinised current legislation.

The new legislation has also followed on from the failed draft Communications Bill -- dubbed the snoopers' charter by critics. The draft bill, which would have seen extensive new powers for security services to monitor our communications, was blocked by the Liberal Democrats in 2012.

May had previously said the new bill removed some of the "contentious" parts of the previous legislation.

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What happens next?

Now that the bill has been published, there will be an intense period of scrutiny of its finer details.

Civil liberties groups, MPs, judges, and others will dive into the details of the proposed legislation to see how it will work in practice, and whether it complies with existing UK and European laws.

This analysis will be fed into a process of pre-legislative scrutiny, whereby a parliamentary committee will take an in-depth look at what has been proposed. Committee's usually take evidence, from third parties as well as government officials, before releasing a final report.

The report will make recommendations to the government based on the evidence that has been received. "These recommendations, together with the consultation responses from members of the public, may mean that elements of the Bill are modified before introduction," the government explained.

For the failed snoopers' charter, the draft committee looking at the draft bill heavily criticised its proposals. The committee saidit realised there was a need for reform but the proposed legislation paid "insufficient attention to the duty to respect the right to privacy".


This scrutiny of the proposed snoopers' charter led to it being scrapped.

Once a bill has been scrutinised by the committee it will then progress through the usual parliamentary process where it will be debated and voted on by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

A revised bill will be introduced in the spring of next year, May told the Commons.