Travellers' mobile phone data downloaded and stored by police

Counter-terrorism laws allow officers to take mobile phone from any passenger they wish

Travellers coming to the UK via air, sea and international rail are having their mobile phone data downloaded and retained by police officers.

A Telegraph report has revealed that officers are using counter-terrorism laws to remove a mobile phone from any passenger they wish, without even having to demonstrate grounds for suspicion before seizing the device.

Data downloaded from phones and tablets can be stored for "as long as necessary", and includes call history, contact books, photos, records of who the person is texting or emailing, but not the actual contents of messages.

It is anticipated that David Anderson QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism laws, will raise concerns over the officers' power in his annual report due to be published this week.

"Information downloaded from mobile phones seized at ports has been very useful in disrupting terrorists and bringing them to justice," Anderson said.

"But ordinary travellers need to know that their private information will not be taken without good reason, or retained by the police for any longer than is necessary," he added.

The report goes on to say that about 60,000 people a year are "stopped and examined" as they enter or return to the UK as a result of powers afforded to officers from the Terrorism Act 2000. But it is not known how many of those have had their phone data examined.

Police can already seize mobile phones on the streets of Britain, but only if the citizen is arrested and the officer believes that there are grounds for suspicion. The Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham is already investigating whether these powers are appropriate.

The new report comes amid increased scrutiny of the government's surveillance of the general public. Former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden had accused the US and UK spy agencies of snooping on phone calls and internet usage, while investigative journalist Duncan Campbell said that British spy agency GCHQ taps and stores all transatlantic network traffic, totalling between 60 and 100 petabytes, for at least three days - this includes the meta-data surrounding people's communications as well as the content, enabling the GCHQ and NSA to build up detailed files on people's online habits.

Dr Gus Hosein, of campaign group Privacy International told the Telegraph, that his group would back calls for reform and new safeguards, stating that a mobile phone should only be seized when the phone is essential to an investigation. Without these rules, he said, "everyone should be worried".

The government has been keen to push forward with its Communications Data Bill, dubbed the "Snoopers' Charter" by critics, to allow unparalleled interception of UK citizens' online communications and voice calls.

But at the end of April, deputy prime minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said that the proposals for the Bill would not go ahead while his party remains in power.

The government then sneaked in new proposals as part of the Queen's Speech, which suggest that law enforcement and intelligence agencies use the "who, when, where and how of a communication" but not the content within that data to investigate and prosecute for serious crimes.

The proposal emphasises that this "is not about indiscriminately accessing internet data of innocent members of the public".