According to the bill, UK telecommunication companies and internet service providers will be paid to log their customers’ emails, internet use and other correspondence so it could be easily searched by security officials.
The new powers would allow police, the National Crime Agency, intelligence agencies and the revenue and customs authority to seize details of the websites visited and searches being made by people they wanted to investigate upon receipt of judicial approval, the newspaper reported.
The plan would make it a legal requirement for communications companies to retain all the web browsing history of customers for 12 months in case the spy agencies or police need to access them, according to the media.
Police have been lobbying the government to grant it such powers, arguing that the scale of activities being carried out online these days makes traditional methods of surveillance and investigation less effective.
Earlier this year, May said that the country’s law enforcement agencies needed more powers to do their jobs effectively.
