"BIG BROTHER" BRITAIN

Now you will need a passport to buy a mobile phone under 'Big Brother' style scheme

Anyone buying a mobile phone could be forced to produce their passport as part of the plan for a huge surveillance database. 

Security chiefs want a national register of all 72million mobile phone users in the UK to help track terror plots or crime networks. 

Customers can currently buy prepaid mobile phones with cash, without providing personal details. 

There are some 40 million prepaid and unregistered mobile phones in Britain. 

Opponents claim determined terrorists or criminals will find it easy to sidestep the database by using foreign-registered mobile or satellite phones. 

The phone database will form part of a surveillance system proposed in the Communications Data Bill, unveiled by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith last week. 

It includes plans to log and store details of every phone call, email, text message and internet visit in Britain - including websites such as Facebook and eBay. 

A spokesman for Information Commissioner Richard Thomas said: 'We would expect that this information would be included in the database proposed in the draft Bill.'

SOURCE: Daily Mail