The Liberal Democrats have promised that if elected they would scrap the “Orwellian nightmare” of mass snooping powers.
The Investigatory Powers Act passed into law in November, giving British intelligence agencies and police the widest set of surveillance powers in the western world.
The new law significantly extends the scope of police forces by allowing them to collect and store 12 months’ worth of all UK residents’ web histories, which the Lib Dems describe as a “full frontal assault” on civil liberties.
The party’s announcement comes as a recent leaked draft document from the Home Office has revealed government plans use the act to force web companies to hand over anyone’s communications within 24 hours and to bring an end to encrypted messages.
“It is pre-internet equivalent of hiring a private investigator to follow every person in the UK and record their movements, on the grounds that it may be useful at some point in the next year,” a Lib Dem statement read.
Their manifesto will include proposals to roll back state surveillance powers by ending the indiscriminate bulk collection of communications data and the collection of internet connection records.
Liberal Democrat Alistair Carmichael, who is standing for re-election in the seat of Orkney and Shetland, said: “The investigatory powers bill has laid the ground for a full frontal assault on our privacy and civil liberties.
“The security services need to be able to keep people safe, but these powers are straight out of an Orwellian nightmare. They have no place in an open and democratic society, will cost billions of taxpayers’ money and simply will not work,” he added.
The Lib Dems would tackle security risks by investing in targeted surveillance and increased policing in the community, Carmichael said. “Instead of spying on the entire population’s web histories and undermining the encryption that, for example, allows us to bank online safely, Liberal Democrats would put money back into community policing and concentrate on intelligence-led, targeted surveillance.
“A Conservative landslide would give Theresa May a blank cheque to implement these draconian spying powers and Labour have shown they are incapable of opposing them. A strong Liberal Democrat opposition is crucial to challenge this government, stand up for people’s civil liberties and change Britain’s future.”
The party has also committed to fighting Conservative attempts to undermine encryption which it warned would put people’s online security at risk.
According to the leaked documents all communications companies would be obliged to provide real-time access to the full content of any named individual within 24 hours. This would include encrypted content such as on messaging services like WhatsApp, meaning companies would be legally required to introduce a backdoor to their systems so the authorities can read all communications.
The Conservatives have on numerous occasions said they would not ban or undermine encryption. When Theresa May was home secretary, she told the joint committee on the draft investigatory powers bill: “We believe that encryption is important. It is important that data can be kept safe and secure.
“We are not proposing in the bill to make any changes in relation to the issue of encryption and the legal position around that. The current legal position in respect of encryption will be repeated in the legislation of the bill.”