Revised plans for surveillance set out in Parliament

Revised plans on the powers for UK police and security agencies to monitor people's communications and internet usage are due to be published to Parliament. Reports suggest that the Investigatory Powers Bill will now include greater privacy safeguards, following criticism of last year's plans as outlined by Home Secretary Theresa May. May argues that new powers are needed to fight terrorism, but has since experienced questioning and opposition from internet firms and civil liberties campaigners. Ministers, with May included, want the new Bill to become law by the end of the year, citing the urgent demands of national security and crime prevention. Under the Bill, service providers will be required to store internet connection records for everyone in the UK for a year so that police can access them, putting the collection of email and other data in the UK and personal details held on databases, potentially including bank or medical records, on a firm legal footing. The new legislation will also see security services, as well as the police, having to obtain a senior judge's permission before accessing communications data to identify a journalist's source. Lawrence Jones, from web hosting company UK Fast, told BBC Breakfast: "Criminals are not going to follow a set of rules. Criminals are going to hide behind proxy servers around the world where there's no government legislation."