Tuesday - November 10, 2009

Tired of reading how 1984 is here? Well, State to ‘spy’ on every phone call, email and web search

Picked up the morning paper from the floor today and the front page headline caught me cold. Kinda like being slapped in the face by a wet fish.
If not that then something close to it.  I think this is scary and if passed will cause many to become a wee bit paranoid.  Not the bad guys cos their moto is always, What? Me worry?

I don’t think I have to worry about where I’ve been on line but the idea of snoopers just isn’t comfortable. And as for emails. Well, and I only just thought of this now.  I suppose I could end up on some radar somewhere due to things I’ve written to friends on various topics. I am NOT as you folks know, a pc person at all.  But given the world we live in today, which is not at all a world I like and I doubt you do either, I suppose things I write in emails might raise some concerns in some ppl.  Why hell, I’ve even had some BMEWSers come down on me like a ton of bricks so I can imagine what the authorities might think.

Oh well, at my age ....  What? Me Worry?  (hmmm maybe I shouldn’t have said that last one)

Every phone call, text message, email and website visit made by private citizens is to be stored for a year and will be available for monitoring by government bodies.

By Richard Edwards, Crime Correspondent
Published: 7:00AM GMT 10 Nov 2009

All telecoms companies and internet service providers will be required by law to keep a record of every customer’s personal communications, showing who they have contacted, when and where, as well as the websites they have visited.

Despite widespread opposition to the increasing amount of surveillance in Britain, 653 public bodies will be given access to the information, including police, local councils, the Financial Services Authority, the ambulance service, fire authorities and even prison governors.

They will not require the permission of a judge or a magistrate to obtain the information, but simply the authorisation of a senior police officer or the equivalent of a deputy head of department at a local authority.

Ministers had originally wanted to store the information on a single government-run database, but chose not to because of privacy concerns.

However the Government announced yesterday it was pressing ahead with privately held “Big Brother” databases that opposition leaders said amounted to “state-spying” and a form of “covert surveillance” on the public.

It is doing so despite its own consultation showing that it has little public support.

The Home Office admitted that only one third of respondents to its six-month consultation on the issue supported its proposals, with 50 per cent fearing that the scheme lacked sufficient safeguards to protect the highly personal data from abuse.

The new law will increase the amount of personal data that can be obtained by officials through the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), which is supposed to be used for fighting terrorism.

Although most private firms already hold details of every customer’s private calls and emails for their own business purposes, most only do so on an ad hoc basis and only for a period of several months.

The new rules, known as the Intercept Modernisation Programme, will not only force communications companies to keep their records for longer, but to expand the type of data they keep to include details of every website their customers visit, effectively registering every online click.

FOR THE REST OF THE STORY, CLICK HERE

The powers that be tell us that,

authorities will not be able to view the contents of these emails or phone calls, they can see the internet addresses, dates, times and identify recipients of calls. 

Posted by peiper     on 11/10/2009 at 05:45 AM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Government • UK •  
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