Data surveillance: 'Public should worry if we don't act'
David Cameron and Nick Clegg have explained why emergency legislation is being introduced next week to force phone and internet companies to keep records of customer calls, texts and internet use.
Asked whether people should be concerned about the law being rushed through, the Prime Minister said: "The public should be worried if we didn't act."
"Do we want as a country to allow a means of communication for paedophiles, terrorists and other serious criminals to communicate with each other that, in extremis, we cannot intercept? My own view is that no we don't."
Mr Clegg added that the legislation was "merely maintaining existing capabilities" and said a "poison pill" had been inserted so the law would have to be re-considered in the future.
10 Jul 2014
- From the section UK Politics