[IP] 'Big Brother' database for phones and e-mails

Hi Dave:

This is (I'm ashamed to say) from today's (London) Times. For IP if you wish.

cheers

Brian

PS Already there are nearly 300 comments posted on the article - also
worth sampling.

------

'Big Brother' database for phones and e-mails

Richard Ford

A massive government database holding details of every phone call,
e-mail and time spent on the internet by the public is being planned
as part of the fight against crime and terrorism. Internet service
providers (ISPs) and telecoms companies would hand over the records
to the Home Office under plans put forward by officials.

The information would be held for at least 12 months and the police
and security services would be able to access it if given permission
from the courts.

The proposal will raise further alarm about a "Big Brother" society,
as it follows plans for vast databases for the ID cards scheme and
NHS patients. There will also be concern about the ability of the
Government to manage a system holding billions of records. About 57
billion text messages were sent in Britain last year, while an
estimated 3 billion e-mails are sent every day.

Home Office officials have discussed the option of the national
database with telecommunications companies and ISPs as part of
preparations for a data communications Bill to be in November's
Queen's Speech. But the plan has not been sent to ministers yet.

Jonathan Bamford, the assistant Information Commissioner, said: "This
would give us serious concerns and may well be a step too far. We are
not aware of any justification for the State to hold every UK
citizen's phone and internet records. We have real doubts that such a
measure can be justified, or is proportionate or desirable. We have
warned before that we are sleepwalking into a surveillance society.
Holding large collections of data is always risky - the more data
that is collected and stored, the bigger the problem when the data is
lost, traded or stolen."

<snip>

Full story at:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/telecoms/article3965033.ece

--
School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = "" href="http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell">http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell

interesting-people message