How much access should the U.K. government have to its citizens' Web activity? In the post-Snowden era, that's what lawmakers in the region are trying to figure out. But even with new recommended edits to a pending bill, officials there might soon be granted far-reaching authority to snoop on residents.
In a 194-page report issued today, a parliamentary committee questioned portions of the wide-ranging Draft Investigatory Powers Act, but left room for its most controversial provision, which would require ISPs to record the browsing history of U.K. customers, to remain intact.
As reported by The Guardian, the committee made 86 recommendations to simplify the language of the bill and ensure that the spying powers it confers on the government include safeguards.
Lord Murphy, a Labour politician from Northern Ireland who chaired the committee, told the Guardian that "The fact that we have made 86 recommendations shows that we think that part of the bill is flawed and needs to be looked at in greater detail. There is a lot of room for improvement."
Still, the requirement that U.K. citizens' browsing activities be recorded for up to 12 months remains, though the committee has concerns. It called on the government to produce a code of conduct that would outline how the feds plan to avoid unnecessarily invading citizens' privacy.
"The Government must address the significant concerns outlined by our witnesses" if it wants Internet records to remain in the bill, which has received criticism from politicians, tech companies, and privacy groups, which have sued the government for what they consider to be illegal surveillance tactics.
This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.