The controversial UK Data Retention (EC directive) Regulations 2009 come into play this week and will ensure that Internet service providers retain details of your every movement on the Internet. This is an enhancement of the 2007 act which has been updated to include Internet use as well as mobile and fixed line communications.
In summary, ISPs will need to retain details of every e-mail you send, when it was sent, who it was sent to, sites you visited and sites you tried to visit for a 12 month rolling period. Internet phone calls also come under the new act with ISPs again forced to retain 12 month rolling data regarding each and every phone call you make via the Internet. When you add in the data already collected by mobile telephone and landline telephone service providers it seems as though Big Brother really is watching each and every person across the UK.
While there have been various attempts to block the introduction of the act on the grounds of privacy, these have so far failed to cut any ice with the UK courts. Slowly but surely public trust in the UK authorities is falling to record lows but unfortunately there seems little likelihood of any changes in the short to medium term.