Email details to be kept for a year by ISPs

Details of every email sent or received in the UK will have to be retained by internet service providers (ISPs) from March of this year.

ISPs will have to record the time, date and addresses of each email - including all spam - for a period of one year but the content will not be stored.

The Home Office claims the move will assist the police in criminal investigations and the fight against terror but human rights groups have described it as an attack on civil liberties.

"The government is already mooting plans not just to leave this stuff with the providers but to create a central government database where they hold all the information," said Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty.

"I'm afraid we just don't trust any government or any organisation to keep that much very sensitive information safe."