Snooping requests on the rise Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, public authorities, including councils, the police and intelligence agencies, can ask for access to confidential communications data. This includes lists of telephone numbers dialled and email addresses to which messages have been sent, but not their content. A total of 570,135 requests were made last year, an increase of 15 per cent on the previous year. The figures were contained in the annual report of Sir Paul Kennedy, the Interception of Communications Commissioner, who said the rise was likely to have been as a result of extra surveillance work around the Olympics last year. However, the growing numbers will alarm opponents of plans to increased the coverage of surveillance powers. The Government wants to force internet and phone companies to record and store all their customers' activities for a year. It would mean every website visits and internet activity would recorded for potential monitoring amid fears terrorists and serious criminals are taking advantage of new forms of technology and leaving the police and security services behind. Initial proposals had to be shelved amid opposition in Government and parliament but Mrs May has signalled she is determined to fight on. Of the total requests, some 2,605 were from local councils - a rise of 22 per cent on the previous year. However, requests from local authorities started to fall in the last quarter after new controls introduced through the Protection of Freedoms Act required them to seek authoritisation from magistrates. Sir Paul found a total of 979 errors were made in requests, up from 895. They mainly included administrative mistakes such requesting the wrong phone number or internet user address to monitor. However, six innocent people were wrongly arrested or questioned over alleged crimes as a result. In another case, police went to the wrong house looking for a child who had threatened to harm itself, after obtaining incorrect information about the internet address being used. No one was charged in any of the mistakes and all accepted apologies. Sir Paul said: "The use of lawful interception and communications data affords significant advantages to public authorities when investigating crime and threats to national security Much has changed in the world of communications since I began as Commissioner in 2006. The technology continues to evolve, and sophisticated criminals and terrorists are quick to make use of the latest developments, so those who seek to prevent acts of terrorism and to investigate serious crime need to have the resources they require to be effective. They should not be hampered by legislation enacted at a time when much of what is now taken for granted had not even been heard of. As a nation we have enormous advantages, including in particular the integrity of those who work in our security services and law enforcement agencies, and we need to listen to them, especially when they say that changes need to be made to try to retain our present capacity ... if changes need to be made in order to retain capacity they should not be resisted. Dominic Raab, the Tory MP, said: "It's good news council snooping is starting to fall, since the government's Protection of Freedoms Act. But, with 1,100 requests to monitor our communications each week, the scale of surveillance is still reaching well beyond the intrusive surveillance that is justified to fight terrorism and serious crime.