Email laws slammed over 'breach of privacy' claims

London, Jan 9 (ANI): Laws to keep a check on the details of every email sent in the UK are facing flak as many believe they are an attack on privacy and a waste of money.

In an EU-wide bid to tackle terrorism, all Internet service providers (ISP) will need to keep data about emails sent and received in the UK for a year, starting March.

While the ISPs need to provide the timing and number of communications from individuals, they can't peep into the content of the emails.

The laws come in lien with a ruling last October, which asked telecom companies to keep records of phone calls and text messages for a year.

An estimated three billion emails are sent every day in Britain.

And, last July, the parliament approved the powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, describing them as a vital tool against terrorism.

The law is in the process of implementation as part of an EC directive.

And to make sure that its obeyed, the Government will reportedly pay over 25 million pounds to the ISPs.

According to Dr Richard Clayton, a security researcher at the University of Cambridge's computer lab, there would have been better ways to spend the costs of the regulation.

"There's going to be a record of every single email which arrived addressed to you and all the emails you sent out via your ISP," The Telegraph quoted him as telling the BBC.

He added: "That of course includes all the spam. There are much better things to do to spend our billions on than snooping on everybody in the country just on the off chance that they're a criminal." (ANI)