All of your phone and internet data will soon be held by telecoms companies for a year, as decided by new emergency legislation to be passed in the UK.
Back in April the European Court of Justice threw out powers that require communication companies to retain data for 12 months. But that's now being reversed in the name of national security.
In an attempt to quell the concerns of NSA-fearers, Prime Minister David Cameron said that the new law would merely overturn this and nothing more.
He also promised that there will be various bodies set up to oversee the process (requests to access anyone's data will have to be signed off by the Home Secretary) and protect people's privacy.
The new legislation will include a termination clause for 2016, so it's a short term initiative and one that may well change beyond that date. But needless to say this news will be unsettling for a lot of people.
- A little less privacy is worth a little more security, according to the founder of the internet.
