A frightening proposal from the UK government:

A government database holding details of every phone call made, email sent and minute spent on the internet by the public could be created as part of a centralised fight against crime and terrorism….

Telecoms companies and internet service providers would be compelled to hand over their records to the Home Office under proposals that could find their way into the new data communications bill.

The information would be stored for at least 12 months and police, security services and other agencies across Europe would be able to access the database with court permission.

These new proposals are vastly more invasive than existing data retention laws. Right now, UK telcos are already required to retain information about calls and text messages, but they don’t store recordings of the calls themselves, nor do they store the text of the text messages. Most people, I think, expect this to happen anyway. The new proposals cover the content of all your online activity: which sites you visited and when, the text of every email you send and receive, logs of every IM message you send and every online chat you participate in — in short, everything you do online.

Then there’s the fact that the UK government would be in charge of storing all that data itself, in one big centralized database. Instead of having to go to the telcos to get it, the cops and spooks would just have to ask the Home Office for it. Those same cops and spooks made 439,000 requests for telecommunications data over a 15-month period in 2005-2006. How long do you think it would take for the Home Office to give in to the inevitable pressure to expedite the process a little by cutting out the judicial oversight? After all, Home Office staff have already been caught hacking into their own department’s records; it will be difficult for them to refuse when that nice policeman tells them he needs their help to stop the terrorists.

A frightening proposal from the UK government:

A government database holding details of every phone call made, email sent and minute spent on the internet by the public could be created as part of a centralised fight against crime and terrorism….

Telecoms companies and internet service providers would be compelled to hand over their records to the Home Office under proposals that could find their way into the new data communications bill.

The information would be stored for at least 12 months and police, security services and other agencies across Europe would be able to access the database with court permission.

These new proposals are vastly more invasive than existing data retention laws. Right now, UK telcos are already required to retain information about calls and text messages, but they don’t store recordings of the calls themselves, nor do they store the text of the text messages. Most people, I think, expect this to happen anyway. The new proposals cover the content of all your online activity: which sites you visited and when, the text of every email you send and receive, logs of every IM message you send and every online chat you participate in — in short, everything you do online.

Then there’s the fact that the UK government would be in charge of storing all that data itself, in one big centralized database. Instead of having to go to the telcos to get it, the cops and spooks would just have to ask the Home Office for it. Those same cops and spooks made 439,000 requests for telecommunications data over a 15-month period in 2005-2006. How long do you think it would take for the Home Office to give in to the inevitable pressure to expedite the process a little by cutting out the judicial oversight? After all, Home Office staff have already been caught hacking into their own department’s records; it will be difficult for them to refuse when that nice policeman tells them he needs their help to stop the terrorists.