Social networking websites will be snooped on by the security services under new powers which campaigners fear will lead to an expansion of the "Big Brother" state.
Information collected from the sites is likely to be used to build a new super-database at the heart of Government, allowing officials to monitor people's every online move.
The plans were dismissed as "Orwellian" by Opposition parties while campaigners said that monitoring internet traffic was evidence of the rise of the "stalker state".
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said communications data which helped convict the July 7 bombers were no longer being stored on a routine basis.
New laws were needed to let officials to keep track of potential terrorists who use social networks, such as Facebook, and gaming sites, as well as online messaging, to plot attacks free from detection.
Miss Smith said ministers were looking at ways to "collect and store" records of phone calls, emails and internet traffic.
But, she said, the Government was not looking to extend its powers to monitor the content of the messages.
Without the right to monitor the flow of internet messaging, the police and security services would have to consider a "massive expansion of surveillance", she said.
In a speech, she said: "The challenge is the changing technology and the way it is possible to collect communication data."
The likely outcome will be either a new super-database held by the Government or a series of smaller databases which are held by internet service providers.
Security services will be able to access the information but not by other bodies like local authorities which have used anti-terror legislation to investigate "lower level criminality", Miss Smith said.
Miss Smith insisted there would be safeguards on how the information was used including a new watchdog to monitor the storage of information.
After a spate of data losses by the Government in recent months, Miss Smith admitted that the public was right to be mistrustful about the Government's handling of people's private information.
The Home Office will start a three-month consultation on the plans in the new year, with a white paper due next summer. The proposals are likely to be opposed by privacy campaigners.
The plans come after Security Minister Lord West's announcement that the authorities were monitoring the beginnings of "another great plot" by terrorists.
The plans were heavily criticised by Opposition parties and campaigners. The Tories warned of the "exponential increase in the powers of the state".
Dominic Grieve, Shadow home secretary, said: "These proposals would mark a substantial shift in the powers of the state to obtain personal information on individuals. The Government must present convincing justification for such an exponential increase in the powers of the state."
Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, added: "The Government's Orwellian plans for a vast database of our private communications are deeply worrying. I hope that this consultation is not just a sham exercise to soft-soap an unsuspecting public."
Guy Herbert, from campaign group NO2ID, said: "The Home Secretary talks about 'principles' but the only principle she appears to be acquainted with is convenience for the stalker state.
"Monitoring your communications is as intrusive as searching your home. It ought to only be permitted as part of a specific investigation and only on a warrant from a judge."
MY RESPONSE:
This is nothing but a smokescreen for those in power to mitigate against the potential future impact of global social networking sites over political influence in general.
It will be interesting to see whether the likes of Mark Zuckerberg et al will continue to protect their well publicised idealistic view of a free internet and resist any attempt by governments to control what are the first true potential antidotes to localised propaganda the world has ever had. This move implies to me that the politicians can already see their control over communications and therefore public perception, rapidly eroding in front of them. I only hope those that run the businesses themselves have the guts to ward off these trojan horse moves and see them for what they really are!
Jan Simmonds
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