Cameron Plans to Introduce Communications Bill to Prevent Terror Attacks

The so-called Snoopers’ Charter which was first proposed by British Home Secretary Theresa May in 2012 would require mobile phone companies and Internet service providers to maintain records of users’ web and mobile phone activities for a period of 12 months.

MOSCOW, January 12 (Sputnik) — British Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to introduce a communications bill aiming to prevent terrorist attacks, dubbed the “Snoopers’ Charter,” if he wins the next general election.

“I think we cannot allow modern forms of communication to be exempt from the ability, in extremis, with a warrant signed by the Home Secretary, to be exempt from being listened to. … That is my very clear view and if I am prime minister after the next election I will make sure we legislate accordingly,” Cameron told ITV News after the unity march in Paris.

The Snoopers’ Charter was first proposed by British Home Secretary Theresa May in 2012, but the bill was blocked by the Liberal Democrats. However, the Conservative Party said it would propose the bill again if the party gained a majority at the next general elections.

The proposed bill would require mobile phone companies and Internet service providers to maintain records of users’ web and mobile phone activities, though not its contents, for a period of 12 months. One of the main purposes of the draft bill was to stop terrorist activities at their preparation stages.

Cameron’s comments came after France had been struck by three terrorist attacks by alleged Islamic radicals in the Paris area in the past week that had claimed a total of 17 lives. The attacks have prompted the EU member states to revise their security measures in the past week.

Earlier in the day, Cameron held a meeting with security chiefs and discussed measures the country takes to ensure its protection from terrorists.

General elections in the United Kingdom, when voters will elect representatives to sit in the House of Commons, the country’s lower house of parliament, are scheduled for May 2015.