http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... a-May.htmlCase for snooping powers backfires for Theresa MayBy Tom Whitehead, Security Editor
10:00PM BST 10 May 2012
An attempt by Theresa May to defend proposed new snooping powers backfired yesterday when she was contradicted by her own child exploitation experts.
The Home Secretary told MPs that nine members of a 41-strong international paedophile ring had never been traced because necessary internet data on them was not available.
She used the case as a reason why the Government plans to force communications providers to retain all phone and internet activity by its users, which can then be accessed by the police and security services.
But within hours of her warning, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) revealed the case was five years old and may have had a different outcome today, regardless of any new powers.
The reason officers were unable to trace nine of the suspected paedophiles in the 2007 case was because records then were only retained for three months.
The current practice now is for companies to retain records for at least a year and a Ceop source admitted that may have made a difference in the case had been live today.
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