Be glad you're not in the U.K.

[blitz <blitz () macronet net>]

And coming soon to the US!



> BBC News Online:  Sci/Tech
> Wednesday, 17 July, 2002, 09:15 GMT 10:15 UK
> Switch on for state snooping
>
> Police forces want to plug in to lots of networks
>
> >From August net service providers in the UK will be obliged to carry out
> surveillance of some customers' web habits on behalf of the police.
> Controversial laws passed in 2000 oblige large communications companies
> to install technology that allows one in 10,000 of their customers to be
> watched.
>
> The information gathered about what people look at on the web, the
> content of e-mail messages and their phone conversations will be passed
> to the police or a government monitoring station.
>
> The demands have been criticised by experts who say the law conflicts
> with basic guarantees of privacy and that the government is not doing
> enough to help pay for the installation of the surveillance systems.
>
> Data hoover
>
> The controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act was passed in
> October 2000 and gave law enforcement agencies sweeping powers to snoop
> on the electronic lives of citizens.
>
> " It's the internet equivalent of a telephone tap "
> Roland Perry, Linx
>
> The Act demands that organisations it dubs Communication Service
> Providers (CSP) - broadly anyone that helps people keep in touch via the
> web, fax machine or phone - install technology that can automatically
> monitor what many of their customers are doing.
>
> It also demands that service providers start monitoring a customer
> within 24 hours of being told that the police or other investigation
> agencies want to snoop on them.
>
> The information collected must also be passed on electronically to the
> agency which asked for the snooping to start.
>
> A spokesman for the Home Office said 1 August was the day on which the
> new surveillance regime would start, even though the technology to do
> the watching are yet to be installed.
>
> He said only law enforcement agencies would have the power to ask for
> the surveillance to start.
>
> Police would have to get a warrant from the Home Office before they
> could ask for surveillance to start, he said, and it would only be used
> to gather evidence about serious crimes.
>
> Data delivery
>
> Roland Perry, public policy director for the London Internet Exchange
> which interconnects the networks of net service companies, said the
> government was still working out how best to put the surveillance
> systems in place.
>
> "It's a very long-term project," he said. "The whole thing will be done
> on a one-to-one basis with the individual companies concerned."
>
> " Agencies have to make a judgement whether it's worth making a request
> if it costs a few hundred pounds to do it "
>
> Ian Brown, Foundation for Information Policy Research
>
> The government is also currently working out what types of information
> it wants from CSPs and how it will be delivered.
>
> "In theory, an interception capability would deliver all the data," said
> Mr Perry. "It's the internet equivalent of a telephone tap."
>
> The government is hoping that its work on automatic surveillance will
> become a European standard and be widely adopted.
>
> Costly communication
>
> Service providers have asked for help to buy the equipment needed to set
> up the permanent interception capability.
>
> "The Home Office has said it would contribute £20m to this but the net
> industry has said it will cost a lot more than that," said Ian Brown,
> director of the Foundation for Information Policy Research.
>
> The Internet Service Providers Association has warned about the
> potentially huge costs of installing surveillance equipment to meet the
> demands of the RIP Act and the recently passed Anti-Terrorism, Crime and
> Security Act.
>
> A spokesman for the organisation said it was still seeking clarification
> over the types of data its members were supposed to be catching, how
> long it had to be stored for and who would pay for the storage.
>
> Mr Brown said one of the few safeguards on the snooping system was the
> fact that the agencies asking for the surveillance to be carried out
> will be charged to use it.
>
> "This means agencies have to make a
> judgement whether it's worth making a request if it costs a few hundred
> pounds to do it," said Mr Brown.
>
>
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