IP: Evidence Status of Email Still Hazy in UK (fw)

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Date: Sat, 13 Feb 1999 09:54:53 +1100
To: apple () apnic net
From: Bala Pillai <bala () apic net>


E-mail could be used as evidence 
Thursday, August 6, 1998
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_146000/146437.stm

            The legal status of email remains hazy 

            E-mail could be used as criminal evidence in
            UK courts. 

            It all depends on where the e-mail was sent
            from, or which Internet provider was used. 

            To date, the law covering the Internet is unclear,
            and there have been few court cases to provide
            guidance. 

            But that may change after a series of meetings
            between the Association of Chief Police
            Officers (Acpo) and leading UK internet
            providers (ISPs) who have been looking at how
            laws apply to the Web.


                            According to Keith
                            Mitchell, the chairman of
                            ISP group LINX, e-mails
                            sent via Internet
                            providers could be used
                            as evidence, but only if
                            they are sent via
                            companies who are not
                            licenced as telephone
                            operators. 

            This is because telephone companies are
            covered by the Interception of Communications
            Act 1985. 

            This allows police to tap telephone
            conversations, but what is said cannot be used
            as evidence. 

            Some of the larger Internet providers, such as
            British Telecom and Demon Internet, are
            registered as telephone companies. 

            Many others, including the Microsoft Network,
            Compuserve and AOL, are not. 

            E-mail from your company is not private 

            E-mail sent and received on a company's
            computer has always received less protection. 

            Any information stored on a company's
            machines is that organisation's property -
            employers can read it and pass it on to police if
            they wish. 

            Police can also request that Internet providers
            pass on information about general traffic
            patterns - who is communicating with whom -
            though they are not obliged to provide this
            without a warrant. 

            Police 'not trying to circumvent the law' 

            Detective Chief Superintendent Keith Akerman,
            who heads the computer crimes subcommittee
            of Acpo, confirms that he and Internet providers
            are trying to come up with a set of guidelines. 

            "The last thing the police want to do is
            circumvent legislation," he said. 

            He said the 1985 act is inadequate as it was
            not designed with the Internet in mind, but he
            and providers were trying to work out how to
            apply it fairly. 

            The police and ISPs will be holding a series of
            seminars in September and October to look at
            this and other areas of Internet law. 


bala pillai* bala () sydney net*the asia pacific internet co, sydney
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