The Home Office could grant police the power to hack into personal computers without a court warrant.

Under the new proposals, police across the European Union would be given the authority to collect information from computers in Britain.

Police in the UK have adopted hacking or remote logging, which it says is needed to fight cybercrime and paedophilia.

Under the new police powers computer hacking can be activated once approved by a chief constable.

However, Liberty, the privacy lobby group, said such a vast expansion of police powers should be regulated by a new Act of Parliament and stated that police should have to apply for a court warrant to hack into computers.

In an expansion of pan-European co-operation, EU ministers last month agreed in principle to allow police to carry out remote searches of suspects' computers in the 27 nation-bloc.

The proposals are still being worked out by the Home Office and EU ministers but seem bound to run in to stiff opposition and possibly legal challenges.

www.homeoffice.gov.uk
www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk

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