London: Google, Facebook and other big internet companies will be forced to hand over encrypted conversations of suspected terrorists and criminals under plans to bolster surveillance powers. New laws will require Whatsapp, Snapchat and other popular applications to hand messages sent by their users to MI5, MI6 and GCHQ if they are under investigation. The power will be included in an Investigatory Powers Bill which will overhaul the spy agencies’ ability to monitor suspects. The Bill, announced in the Queen’s Speech, will revive the so-called “snoopers charter” but is much wider than previous planned. The Conservatives are pushing ahead with legislation blocked by the Liberal Democrats, their former Coalition partners. The Government has promised to “address ongoing capability gaps” that it says hinder the ability of the security services to fight terrorism and other serious crime. It will also seek to allow the intelligence agencies to “target” the communications of terrorists, paedophiles and other serious criminals. The Tories said they would also push ahead with plans to allow Ofcom to take “tough measures” against broadcasters that air interviews with extremists. Schools, nurseries and other organisations working with children will be able to check whether a potential member of staff is an extremist. The security and intelligence agencies are concerned that the encryption of many online conversations is now so sophisticated that they cannot discover what suspects are planning. But internet companies have been increasingly unwilling to cooperate and breach their users’ privacy in the wake of the mass surveillance claims made in the leaks by Edward Snowden, a former CIA contractor. David Cameron pledged earlier this year to close the gap in surveillance powers if he won power. In a speech in January, the Prime Minister said there should be no “means of communication” which “we cannot read”. He promised a “comprehensive piece of legislation that makes sure we do not allow terrorists safe spaces to communicate with each other”. He added: “I am confident the powers we need, whether it is on communications data or the content of communications, I am very comfortable they are absolutely right for a modern liberal democracy.” In a speech that month, Andrew Parker, the director general of MI5, said: “Changes in the technology that people are using to communicate are making it harder for the agencies to maintain the capability to intercept the communications of terrorists.” Robert Hannigan, director of GCHQ, has accused internet companies of being “in denial” in respect of fanatics exploiting their networks and said that they had become “the command and control networks of choice” for terrorists. The proposed new powers would allow spy agencies to obtain a warrant from the Home Secretary obliging an internet company to break down its encryption protection and allow access to a suspect’s communications. A Home Office spokesman said the Bill was a “landmark piece of legislation to cover the whole investigatory powers landscape in modern communications”. It will be heavily influenced by the findings of the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, David Anderson QC. In the wake of the Snowden revelations, he was asked to determine whether the intelligence agencies’ surveillance capabilities and safeguards were adequate for the modern age. His report is expected within days. In March, the parliamentary intelligence and security committee also made a series of recommendation following an inquiry into surveillance and privacy. It called for the existing legal framework to be incorporated in a single Act of Parliament. The Bill will also set firmly in British law a requirement for communications companies to retain records of their users’ activities for up to a year. Emergency legislation to that effect brought forward last year included a sunset clause that means it will be fall away in 2016.
Snooper’s charter: New UK law to tackle terrorists
Spy agencies will have power to compel Google and other internet giants to provide decoded messages between suspects under new law