HOME Secretary Jacqui Smith has ditched plans for a giant Government database tracking all emails, phone calls and internet activity.
Ms Smith said a central store of electronic data was an “extreme” solution and would have undermined privacy.
Instead, records of every electronic connection made by Britons will instead be held by private firms, at a cost of around £2bn.
Internet and phone firms will be asked to collect and store vast amounts of data on who we are speaking to, what websites we are visiting and who we are sending emails to.
Communications data – which excludes the content of messages and calls – will be held for at least a year so it can be accessed by agencies such as the police and security services.
Ms Smith confirmed there were no plans for a single store.
