Re: Phone tapping for every phone call - Data Communications Bill
- From: Webmanager_CritEst <webmanager@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:02:16 -0700 (PDT)
On Oct 15, 4:05 pm, Logician <sa...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/exclusive-storm-over-b...
No one thought my comments were credible posted in this NG when I said
20% of messages are recorded.
In the news articles now being made public it is clear HMG already is
recording calls. You can be sure if Parliament is saying it will do
it, it is already being done. HMG simply wishes to put a public face
on what is basically an established clandestine activity.
"Early plans to create a giant "Big Brother" database holding
information about EVERY phone call, email and internet visit made in
the UK were last night condemned by the Government's own terrorism
watchdog."
No one? I do not think so.
****
Government unveils 'Big Brother' plan to log calls and emails of EVERY
person in Britain
By James Slack
Last updated at 4:35 PM on 15th October 2008
Combating terrorist threat: Home Secretary Jacqui Smith
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has unveiled plans for a massive expansion
of 'Big Brother' state surveillance, covering every phonecall, e-mail,
text message and internet visit in Britain
Jacqui Smith has unveiled plans for a massive expansion of 'Big
Brother' State surveillance, covering every phonecall, email, text
message and internet visit in Britain.
The Home Secretary claimed that storing details of a person's
conversations by telephone, computer or website was vital to prevent
further terrorist atrocities.
Activities which will be subject to snooping for the first time
include visits to social networking sites such as Facebook, auction
sites such as Ebay, gaming websites and chatrooms.
Police and security services will not be able to access the precise
content - but will know each site visited, and to whom and when a
phonecall, text message or email was sent. This could be accessed
within an hour of being sent, in virtual 'real time', sources say.
If this sets alarm bells ringing, and they are concerned about a
person's activities, they could seek a ministerial warrant to
intercept exactly what is being sent - including the content.
The billions of pieces of data, likely to be stored for at least a
year, could even be kept on a giant Government database, officials
said. The cost is estimated to be at least £1billion, and could be far
higher.
The proposals were last night attacked by MPs and privacy groups as
'Stalinist', 'Orwellian' and a reversal of the presumption a person is
innocent until proven guilty. One opponent said: 'They are making us
all suspects'.
And a leaked memo written by sources close to the project revealed it
was fraught with difficulties.
Officials are split between placing the vast amount of personal data
to be collected on the huge central database - or forcing individual
service providers, such as internet companies, to store the
information, to be accessed on demand.
Currently, the option being worked on is to request data from the
service providers, the memo reveals. They are likely to pass on extra
costs to customers.
The memo says that while the Interception Modernsisation Programme -
the name given to the Whitehall team working on the project - favoured
a vast database, some Home Office officials viewed this as
'impractical, disproportionate, politically unattractive, and possibly
unlawful from a human rights perspective.'
the lives of others
We're watching you: An East German Stasi officer listens in on a
couple in a scene from the Oscar-winning film The Lives Of Others.
Jacqui Smith has unveiled plans for a massive expansion of state
surveillance
Ms Smith herself admitted the public had reason to be concerned.
In a speech to the Ippr think-tank, she said: 'Of course, even if
there had not been events (data losses), the British public would have
every right to be sceptical about a state activity that involves the
collection of data. 'They should be sceptical and questioning about
the processes that we already use.'
But she said that, without increasing their capacity to store data,
the police and security services would have to consider a 'massive
expansion of surveillance'
Security sources say terrorists, wise to the fact the authorities can
already store some e-mail and phone records, were adapting their
techniques.
These include communicating via social networking sites, or on
computer games consoles which are linked to the internet.
Ms Smith insisted councils would not have access to the mass of new
data. Those who can request the piles of new information will be
limited to police and the security services, to investigate crime.
But critics pointed to past examples of legislation, once passed,
being extended to local authorities. These include the anti-terror
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, which is now used by councils
to trap people for the most minor offences.
Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve said: 'These proposals would mark
a substantial shift in the powers of the state to obtain personal
information on individuals.
Given the Government's poor record on protecting data and running
databases there needs to be a full and proper debate. The Government
must present convincing justification for such an exponential increase
in the powers of the state.
'The public will also be acutely aware of how, under this Government,
surveillance powers designed to combat terrorism and serious organised
crime have been used by local authorities to investigate things like
fly-tipping. This would be absolutely unacceptable.'
Consultation on the plans will begin early next year, with a Bill
expected to follow by the end of 2009 or 2010.
Originally, legislation had been planned for the upcoming Queen's
Speech, but officials say there is insufficient time, as the subject
is so complex and controversial.
Liberal Democrat spokesman Chris Huhne said: 'The Government’s
Orwellian plans for a vast database of our private communications are
deeply worrying. I hope that this consultation is not just a sham
exercise to soft-soap an unsuspecting public.
'This Government has repeatedly shown that it cannot be trusted with
sensitive data. There is little reason to think ministers will be any
less slapdash with our phone and internet records.
'Ministers claim the database will only be used in terrorist cases,
but there is now a long list of cases from the arrest of Walter
Wolfgang for heckling at a Labour conference to the freezing of
Icelandic assets where anti-terrorism law has been used for purposes
for which it was not intended.These proposals are incompatible with a
free country and a free people.'
Phil Booth, of the NO2ID privacy campaign, said: 'This is the
Stalinist vision which we always knew was on the agenda. Monitoring
the entire population is a complete abhorrence, reversing the
presumption of innocent until proven guilty and making us all
suspects.'
NO2ID added: 'The Home Secretary talks about 'principles' but the only
principle she appears to be acquainted with is convenience for the
stalker state. Monitoring your communications is as intrusive as
searching your home. It ought to only be permitted as part of a
specific investigation and only on a warrant from a judge.'
But senior security and police services were adamant that, without the
new powers, lives would be put at risk. They said some investigations
have already been affected by criminals who use technology to avoid
detection, by plotting online through social networking sites or
interactive games.
'Criminals are getting more sophisticated in using this technology and
they are going to exploit it unless we do something,' one source said.
Ms Smith said: 'There are no plans for an enormous database which will
contain the content of your emails, the texts that you send or the
chats you have on the phone or online.
'Nor are we going to give local authorities the power to trawl through
the database in the interests of investigating lower level criminality
under the spurious cover of counter-terrorist legislation.'
Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, has described the
proposal as 'a step too far for the British way of life,' and Shami
Chakrabarti, director of the human rights group Liberty, said the
proposals will 'do nothing to make us safer.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1077788/Government-unveils-Big-Brother-plan-log-calls-emails-EVERY-person-Britain.html
****
WM
www.critest.com
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