The home secretary has announced new measures aimed at ensuring legislation keeps pace with technology.
Internet companies will be asked to store information on contact taking place between internet users, the government has revealed.
The measures form part of a series of proposals from the government aimed at tackling terrorism and crime. The government has ruled out a single, centralised database of communications information and will instead ask communications firms to hold the data and supply the authorities with required data.
Under the scheme, emails and internet usage records - including social network visits - would be stored, along with phone calls.
"Advances in communications mean that there are ever more sophisticated ways to communicate and we need to ensure that we keep up with the technology being used by those who would seek to do us harm," said home secretary Jacqui Smith.
"It is essential that the police and other crime fighting agencies have the tools they need to do their job. However, to be clear there are absolutely no plans for a single central store."
Both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats suggested that the government had backed down on its original plans for a centralised database. Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne called for "strong safeguards" to protect the data, while the shadow home secretary Chris Grayling suggested the government should look at other area where people's details are "held by the state in one place".
