The FBI plans to pay major telecommunications providers to retain customer Internet activity and phone call information for a minimum of two years, in order that the agency should be able to use the information in counterterrorism investigations, the Washington Post reports.

The agency is asking Congress for $5 million a year to absorb the cost to the service providers of developing an efficient system by which to retain, retrieve and deliver the information. Under the proposals the FBI would not have direct access to the records and would still have to apply for a subpoena or an administrative warrant in order to obtain any required information.

Civil liberty groups are concerned, however, that the proposal could lead to infringements of personal privacy. They also point to the telecommunications providers’ alleged previous involvement in the US government’s domestic surveillance program.

According to Michael German of the American Civil Liberties Union, the proposal would effectively circumnavigate the law "by paying companies to do something the FBI couldn’t do itself legally."

He adds: "Going around the Fourth Amendment by paying private companies to hoard our phone records is outrageous."