Parliament to debate RIP Act again

Government plans to extend the number of public bodies that can snoop on details of telephone calls, email and web traffic have been delayed following fears of a backbench rebellion.

At issue is a draft amendment to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP)Act that would allow bodies including district councils, local authorities and the Department of Health to gain access to web and email data.

It will now be debated in the Commons next Monday.

The powers were previously limited to law enforcement agencies, intelligence agencies, the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise.

The amendment would open up information such as the name and address of users, phone numbers called, the source and destination of emails, the identity of web sites visited or mobile phone location data.

Other organisations that would be able to get access to the data include a number of government departments, such as the Environment Agency, the Food Standards Agency, the Postal Services Commission, and any fire authority.

The powers are due to come into force on 1 August.

But industry watchers and civil liberties groups have protested against the wide-ranging extension.

"I am appalled at this huge increase in the scope of government snooping. Two years ago, we were deeply concerned that these powers were to be given to the police without any judicial oversight. Now they're handing them out to a practically endless queue of bureaucrats in Whitehall and Town Halls," said Ian Brown, director of technology think-tank Foundation for Information Policy Research.

In a recent letter to The Daily Telegraph, John Wadham, director of the civil rights campaign group Liberty, questioned the government's justification for the changes.

He asked whether it was necessary to extend electronic surveillance powers to organisations such as district councils, the Post Office or the Food Standards Agency.

"Of course the vast majority of officials will seek to use these powers honestly and proportionately," he said.

"But if you give such intrusive powers to so many people with so broad and vague a list of justifications, the evidence from history is that these powers will be abused."

The government believes the law has simply been misunderstood.

Officials in many of the agencies that would get the powers could already ask for the same information on a voluntary basis, Home Office minister Bob Ainsworth told the BBC at the weekend.

"It is in no way a snooper's charter. The measures provide safeguards and guidance as to when people can get information and when they can't," he said.