The UK government wants to track people’s IP addresses

As if people weren’t already paranoid or suspicious that their government could be tracking them or spying on it, it seems that over in the UK, the government has proposed a new bill that would make it official in which internet service providers are expected to keep records on their users, thus allowing them to hand over user-information to law enforcement agencies upon request. The idea is to link internet protocol (IP) addresses to specific devices, like smartphones, laptops, tablets, and so on, in hopes that they will be able to identify who is using what and when. 

Liberal Democrats and civil liberties campaigners have welcomed new measures requiring internet service providers to keep data that identifies online users, but said it must not be seen as a way of reviving the “snooper’s charter”. The Tory MP and civil liberties campaigner David Davis MP said the measure to link subscribers’ data to specific smartphones, laptops or other devices through their internet protocol (IP) addresses was a sensible change, but that it should not be used as a “stepping stone back to the old snooper’s charter”. The new law will also allow the police to force internet firms to hand over data showing who is using a computer or smartphone at any particular time. The Lib Dems also welcomed the move, saying Nick Clegg had repeatedly pressed the home secretary, Theresa May, to introduce proposals to match IP addresses with subscribers’ data since he blocked the introduction of the “snooper’s charter”.