Britain’s Home Office has secretly adopted a new plan to allow police routinely snoop on people’s personal computers without serving a warrant. The policy, which follows a decision by the European Union’s council of ministers in Brussels, has maddened civil liberties groups and opposition members of Parliament. These groups described it as an evil extension of the “big brother ” surveillance state which ignores privacy laws. The hacking is known as “remote searching,” which offers police or intelligence personnel who may be far removed to secretly infiltrate the hard drive of someone’s computer at their home, office or anywhere else.

Material accumulated in this fashion includes the content of all e-mails, Internet browsing, and instant messaging. Under the Brussels decree, police across the European Union have been given the green light to expand the implementation of a seldomly used power involving warrantless intrusive surveillance of private assets. For example, the policy will allow French, German and other EU forces to request British officers to hack into someone’s U.K. computer and submit any material learned.