The London Internet Exchange (Linx), which represents service providers, said the Government’s controversial surveillance proposals represent a “dramatic shift” in the balance between individuals’ privacy and the power of the state.

It said forcing them to keep details of all website visits and mobile phone calls would in effect create a communications data profile for every user, which also would affect the relationship of trust they have with customers.

Authorities would be able to search the database to look for all people who were in Trafalgar Square at a particular time and date and who had visited certain websites in the previous year, it is claimed.

If this “profiling engine” were ever hacked into, “it would constitute a significant threat to national security”. But Linx said its members had “significant doubts” about the feasibility of building the system.

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