Known as the Interception Modernisation Programme (IMP), the system will require communications services providers to record and store details of all electronic communications, including email and internet telephony calls for several years.
This, says the service provider, has raised a number of concerns over privacy – and generated widespread alarm in the communications industry regarding the feasibility, morality and effectiveness of this project.
Neil Watson, Entanet's head of operations, says that there is a real danger that the difficult balance that needs to be struck between privacy and security is swinging too far in the direction of the latter.
"Ignoring for a minute the huge privacy and ethical argument that this ignites, we also have concerns over the usefulness of the data in terms of fighting crime and even the feasibility of collection and storage", he said.
"This will be the largest IT project ever undertaken by the UK and previous attempts leave us far from confident in its success, take the NPfIT in the healthcare sector for example", he added.
According to Watson, back in December it emerged all of the UK's mobile operators had also announced their concerns over the project. Vodafone, Orange, 3 and T-Mobile all voiced their concerns in the form of submissions to the government's consultation.
The mobile operators, he explained, also question IMP's feasibility, accuracy of estimated costs, morality, legality and even its usefulness, questioning whether or not access to all communications records is even necessary for law enforcement and intelligence.
Watson says that, after such widespread industry and public criticism, it was expected that development of IMP would slow down and that the project may even be placed on hold until after the election.
"However last month news emerged that IMP was far from on hold. The government instead announced the establishment of the Communications Capabilities Directorate (CCD), which will provide a structure for the implementation of the IMP which is apparently continuing as planned", he said.
"As a communications provider we have a number of obvious concerns regarding IMP, which are reportedly shared by many of our colleagues within the industry. The government expects providers such as Entanet to maintain massive databases of our customers' online communications including social networking, emails, VoIP calls and browsing, basically anything our customers do online", he added.
Watson went on to say that, currently CSPs are required to keep basic communication records for use by the authorities, but this is a huge increase in the level of snooping.
"This raises a number of obvious privacy concerns and raises the question: Where do we draw the line between protecting our privacy and ensuring security?"
"Ignoring for a minute the huge privacy and ethical argument that this ignites, we also have concerns over the usefulness of the data in terms of fighting crime and even the feasibility of collection and storage", he said.
"This will be the largest IT project ever undertaken by the UK and previous attempts leave us far from confident in its success", he added.