MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The revision concerns some 130 recommendations from three parliamentary committees and reflects the majority of them, The Guardian newspaper reported. The controversial bill, among other points, stipulates that service providers should retain their users’ communications data for a year and make it available for spy agencies as necessary without a warrant.
"We have considered the committees’ reports carefully and the bill we are bringing forward today reflects the majority of their recommendations. We have strengthened safeguards, enhanced privacy protections and bolstered oversight arrangements," a Home Office source said, as quoted by the newspaper.
The revised bill is due to be published by the Home Office later in the day, according to the paper.
Police have been lobbying the government to grant it expanded surveillance powers, arguing that the scale of online digital-based activities make traditional methods of surveillance and investigation less effective.
