Draft Communications Data Bill

rdf:langString Draft Communications Data Bill

rdf:langString The Draft Communications Data Bill (nicknamed the Snoopers' Charter or Snooper's Charter) was draft legislation proposed by then Home Secretary Theresa May in the United Kingdom which would require Internet service providers and mobile phone companies to maintain records of each user's internet browsing activity (including social media), email correspondence, voice calls, internet gaming, and mobile phone messaging services and store the records for 12 months. Retention of email and telephone contact data for this time is already required by the Data Retention Regulations 2014. The anticipated cost was £1.8 billion. May originally expected the bill to be introduced in the 2012–13 legislative session, carried over to the following session, and enacted as law in 2014. However, the former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg withdrew his support for this bill in April 2013, saying "a law which means there would be a record kept of every website you visit, who you communicate with on social media sites ... it is certainly not going to happen with Liberal Democrats in government", and his Liberal Democrat party blocked it from being reintroduced during the 2010-2015 Parliament. Shortly after the Conservative victory in May 2015, May vowed to introduce the Communications Data Bill in the next parliament. In November 2015, May announced a new Investigatory Powers Bill similar to the Draft Communications Data Bill, although with more limited powers and additional oversight.