Government leads bid to widen EU surveillance

THE GOVERNMENT is leading a drive to enable unprecedented levels of surveillance on all forms of electronic communications throughout Europe.

If agreed by the EU Parliament, a draft proposal introduced by Ireland - along with France, Sweden and Britain - will see details of every telephone call and internet session logged and stored for between 12 and 36 months.

Under the proposal, telecom firms and internet providers will have to store details of all electronic communications to aid future police investigations.