EU snooping law shocks privacy groups

A European Parliament anti-terrorism law to allow police to spy on phone and internet users has been slammed by civil liberties groups.

Ministers insisted that the measures were necessary to safeguard national security following the 11 September attacks.

Under the proposal, phone companies and internet service providers would have to keep logs of customer activity for up to four years.

A coalition of 40 civil liberties groups issued a joint statement warning that some of the proposed amendments could have "disastrous consequences for the most sensitive and confidential types of personal data".

They fear that police forces will use the collected information as a database to trawl through for suspicious activity, rather than acting on a case-by-case basis.

One member of the European Parliament suggested that the law gave police more power than their counterparts in the old East Germany.

A more popular piece of legislation concerns the banning of junk email, although there are concerns among marketing companies that small e-business firms will no longer be able to keep track of their customers.