Privacy advocate blasts British data plans

LONDON, July 15 (UPI) -- The British information commissioner says government plans to collect data on every phone call made and e-mail message sent in the country goes too far.

Richard Thomas, who heads Britain's independent authority set up to promote access to official information and to protect personal information, said an expected proposal from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to collect details of every phone call and piece of e-mail generated by the public goes against the British "way of life," The Telegraph reported Tuesday.

"Do we really want the police, security services and other organs of the state to have access to more and more aspects of our private lives?" Thomas asked. "There needs to be the fullest public debate about the justification for, and implications of, a specially created database -- potentially accessible to a wide range of law enforcement authorities -- holding details of everyone's telephone and Internet communications."

The Telegraph said the proposal is part of an effort to implement an EU directive in the wake of the July 7, 2005, London terrorist bombings to promote uniform record-keeping across EU states.

The measure, called the Data Communications Bill, is to be introduced in November, the newspaper said.