Phones and emails snooped every 60 seconds

Councils, police and other public bodies are seeking access to people’s private telephone and email records on an average of 1,381 times a day last year, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Sir Paul Kennedy, the interception of communications commissioner released a report today that More than 500,000 requests have been made by the authorities for confidential communications data last year, which is equivalent to spying on one in every 78 adults.

The figures showed in the report will fuel concerns over the use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act by public bodies, says The Daily Telegraph.

The Act gives authorities such as councils, the police and intelligence agencies the power to request access to confidential communications data, including lists of telephone numbers dialled and email addresses to which messages have been sent.

However, recently councils have been accused of using the powers for trivial matters such as littering and dog fouling, which were originally intended to tackle terrorism and organised crime.

Last month, it emerged that councils and other official bodies had used hidden tracking devices to spy on members of the public.

Maev Kennedy wrote on The Guardian the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, Chris Huhne, said the figures “beggared belief” and showed that Britain had sleepwalked into a surveillance state.

“Many of these operations carried out by the police and security services are necessary, but the sheer numbers are daunting,” he added.

“It cannot be a justified response to the problems we face in this country that the state is spying on half a million people a year.

“We have sleepwalked into a surveillance state, but without adequate safeguards. Having the home secretary in charge of authorisation is like asking the fox to guard the hen house.

“The government forgets that George Orwell's novel 1984 was a warning and not a blueprint. We are still a long way from living under the Stasi but it beggars belief that it is necessary to spy on one in every 78 adults.”

The government has now launched a review. A Home Office spokesman said: "Of course it's vital that we strike the right balance between individual privacy and collective security and that is why the Home Office is clear these powers should only be used when they are proportionate."