It seems like a lot of people believe (and I believe they are at least partly right) that GCHQ already captures this data as a matter of course, and the new law

It seems like a lot of people believe (and I believe they are at least partly right) that GCHQ already captures this data as a matter of course, and the new law just legitimises it. They further imagine that GCHQ are only interested in James Bond style espionage and high level terrorism. You'd need to be plotting something at the level of 9/11 to even raise an eyebrow from them. "Of course, under the new law these powers are expanded, but that's fine - after all, GCHQ have far bigger concerns than that dodgy looking brown bloke who lives down the street, but if local police had the same access to information, they'd be far more effective. Sure, it means my internet history is logged as well, but even if I occasionally download a dodgy movie, the signal/noise ration means they're not going to look unless they have a reason to, so why should I care?" A lot of people in this country are under the impression that the law is too soft, and are widely in support of stronger enforcement and better detection, and this will continue until it starts to directly affect them. For example, my local newspaper had an article about an 18 year old who was prosecuted because he had child porn on his phone and had consensual sex with a 15 year old when he was 17. The comments were unanimously calling him a vile paedophile and expressing outrage at the non-custodial nature of his sentence. For all you can tell from the article, it could just as easily be his slightly younger girlfriend and a few rude selfies. Still illegal, yes, but a far cry from anything I'd call abuse.