LONDON, May 11 (UPI) -- Leaders of civil liberty groups in Britain say they are worried about a new security program being used by London's Metropolitan police.
Called Geotime, the program allows authorities to map nearly every move suspects and their associates make in the digital world, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported Wednesday.
It can be used to collate information from social networking sites, satellite navigation equipment, mobile phones, financial transactions and IP network logs.
The U.S. military uses Geotime, the Guardian said.
In both Britain and the United States, data retention and how it is used has become a major political issue.
"We shouldn't be tacked and traced and have pictures built by our own government and police for the benefit of commercial gain," said Alex Hanff of Privacy International.
He called on police to explain who will decide how this software is to be used in the future.
Hugh Tomlinson, a specialist in privacy, said a public body such as the police must be able to justify the lawfulness of how it uses the information it collects and retains.
"Storing data because it's potentially interesting or potentially useful is not good enough. There has to be some specific justification," Tomlinson said.
