Government plans to store citizens’ phone and web records in massive database

The government is planning a massive database to hold the details of citizens' phone calls, e-mail messages and internet sessions, reports the Times, as part of the fight against crime and terrorism.

ISPs and telecoms companies would be forced to hand over the records to the Home Office under the plan, says the paper.

The information would be held for at least 12 months and the police and the security services would be able to access it after getting permission from the courts.

Home Office officials are said to have discussed the option of the national database with telecoms firms and ISPs, in the run up to a data communications bill set to appear in November's Queen's Speech.

The scheme is an extension of the EU directive adopted on comms record keeping which has been in force since last October.

At the moment, individual service providers store the records for 12 months, but the government wants all the information in one place to make it easier for enforcement agencies to access.

Critics of the proposed scheme say having the information all in one place will make it more vulnerable to data breaches.