A proposed communications database containing details of
everybody's telephone calls, emails and internet use could
be run by a private firm, it has been claimed.
The option to tender out the management of the controversial
database will be included in a consultation paper to be published
next month, according to the Guardian.
The facility is designed to help police and the Security
Service by ensuring they have access to vital communications
data which may not be saved by telephone or internet providers.
The plans have already come under fire from civil liberties
campaigners.
But Sir Ken McDonald stepped up his attack in light of the
Guardian's report, dismissing the notion that additional legal
assurances would ensure the information is not misused.
He told the paper: "All history tells us that reassurances
like these are worthless in the long run. In the first security
crisis the locks would loosen."
