Orwellian level of survailance due to come into force in the UK

Hmmm, well may be it is time to start worrying about those civil liberties after all:

Source: BBC News

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From March all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will by law have to keep information about every e-mail sent or received in the UK for a year.

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The new rules are due to come into force on 15 March, as part of a European Commission directive which could affect every ISP in the country.

The firms will have to store the information under the government's Interception Modernisation Programme (IMP) and make it available to any public body which makes a lawful request.

That could include police, local councils and health authorities.

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The rules already apply to telephone companies, which routinely hold much of the data for billing.

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Reports have suggested the government has even bigger plans for data retention.

They could involve one central database, gathering details on every text sent, e-mail sent, phone call made and website visited.

Consultation on the plans is due to open later this year.

An interesting additional detail is that this is being initiated at the European level, rather than UK going in alone