Taxman and councils to get new powers to see what you are doing online

New surveillance law will mean nearly 40 public bodies will be allowed to snoop on our online activity.

Soon the taxman, as well as councils and many other public bodies, will be given the right to look at your internet history and social media activity.

Internet and telephone companies will be expected to keep records of the websites and the apps people have used for 12 months, under new plans in the Government’s Investigatory Powers Bill which is set to be unveiled on Wednesday.

The legislation will be introduced by the Home Secretary, Theresa May, will give authorities a licence to snoop on our online activities for the first time.

Who will be able to snoop?

The new powers will primarily be used by police and the security services looking for suspected terrorists and criminals.

However, according to reports in the Telegraph, a total of 38 bodies will also be able to access the records to help in ‘detecting or preventing crime’.

These include the Financial Conduct Authority, HM Revenue & Customs, councils, the Health and Safety Executive and the Department for Work and Pensions.

What will they be able to see?

The new laws won’t allow the taxman and other bodies to see the web pages people have viewed, the searches performed or the content of messages without a warrant.

In essence, they can see which websites you visited, but not the exact pages that you viewed.

Mrs May told BBC One's Andrew Marr show: "As people move into the digital age they no longer always communicate on telephone; they communicate over the internet. 

So, what we're talking about is just knowing that first step, who has been contacted [by whom], or did this particular device access WhatsApp at 13.10 or Facebook at 14.05 - it doesn't go beyond that."

Don't let the taxman touch your savings interest: open an ISA!

Who will regulate the new powers?

It is thought a new Investigatory Powers Commissioner will be introduced that will ensure access is ‘limited, targeted and strictly controlled’.

At the same time significant fines will be brought in to deter the abuse of the powers, while councils and other public bodies will be required to get requests for information signed off by a magistrate.

Reports also suggest Mrs May is looking at a ‘two stage’ approval process where ministers sign off the surveillance warrants which then have to be approved by a judge.

But campaigners have argued that judges should be involved from the beginning.

Don't let the taxman touch your savings interest: open an ISA!

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