The government is seeking to introduce new spying laws after the coalition ditched previous plans criticised as a “snoopers’ charter”.
Theresa May insisted the Investigatory Powers Bill, to be set out on Wednesday, will have “world-leading oversight” measures in place to ensure the authorities do not interfere too much with people’s privacy.
She confirmed that the legislation will not give investigators the power to restrict encryption or trawl through internet users’ browsing history.
Mrs May told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “Encryption is important for people to be able to keep themselves safe when they are dealing with these modern communications in the digital age but what we will be doing is setting out the current position, which does enable the authorities with proper authorisation to issue warrants.”
She added that the government “will not be giving powers to go through people’s browsing history”.
The Home Secretary said: “This bill is not about enabling the authorities to see people’s website browsing history.
“It is about ensuring that, as crime moves into the digital age, as criminals and terrorists work more in the digital age, the authorities – law enforcement, the police and our security services, can themselves have the powers they need to deal with crime and terrorism.