From: ZDNet > News > Security –

British Home Secretary Jacquie Smith yesterday announced the imminent introduction of new measures designed to monitor all ‘modern communications’ in the UK, in a crackdown on terrorism and organized crime.

As ZDNet correspondent Nick Heath reports, the new measures, which come into effect in 2009, will require Internet service providers (ISPs) to record ‘who, when and where’ information on all Web, VoIP and messaging traffic and hold onto it for at least 12 months, so law enforcement officials can access it in connection with criminal investigations.

Smith emphasized that the new monitoring measures would not empower police to listen in on the content of Internet communications.

She also noted that new legislation will have to be passed by the British parliament before the proposed new monitoring measures are implemented. “The changes we need to make may require legislation. The safeguards we will want to put in place certainly will. And we may need legislation to test what a solution will look like.”