A CCTV camera in Westminster in London | Oli Scarff/Getty Images UK intelligence asks for ‘real time’ data from telecoms

A draft proposal of the British government shows the U.K. security services would be granted the power to surveil citizens in "near real time."

The paper, leaked to digital activists at Open Rights Group but not confirmed by the U.K. Home Office, explains how telecoms and postal services would have to assist security services in intercepting electronic communications.

The paper also mentions that telecoms companies should provide data "in an intelligible form" without "electronic protection," which would undermine encryption technologies used to protect user data, including personal data, that is gathered and stored by these companies.

It is part of an overhaul of the U.K. security and intelligence services' powers under the recently adopted Investigatory Powers Act. The draft paper would need to be passed by the U.K. parliament before becoming law.

In December, the European Court of Justice ruled that the powers included in the U.K.'s new surveillance law violated the EU's fundamental rights charter.