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Around one billion pieces of personal data are handed over to the police and other official bodies each year by communications companies, privacy advocates have calculated

UK law enforcement and investigative agencies are forcing communications providers to hand over around one million customer records each year, Privacy International claimed on Wednesday.

The human rights group has calculated that this means almost a billion individual pieces of data are being released to organisations such as the police. This includes details of an estimated one hundred million phone calls, plus logs of email and internet activity, possibly going back many years.

There are deep concerns that this information could be used to construct a dossier of an individual's movements, friendships and transactions.

Privacy International is urging the UK public to contact their communications operators to find out how much data is being stored about them. This move, the organisation believes, should help to establish how much information is kept in customer records and could also encourage greater respect for privacy.

Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, said: "We hope that in so doing, all of us will learn a great deal more about this covert activity," explained.

"It is also likely that the exercise of our data protection rights will send a clear signal to communications providers and to the government that people have a high regard for their right to privacy," Davies added.

Further details about this campaign, launched at a public meeting to discuss data retention and access on Wednesday, can be found at Privacy International's website.

Privacy International's figures were compiled from estimates supplied by the Home Office and ministerial statements, plus input from legal experts, communications operators and the All Party Internet Group of MPs.