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Email and browsing official snooping - nothing to do with Phorm or PlusNet

Oldjim
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Email and browsing official snooping - nothing to do with Phorm or PlusNet

Read this and, if it is to be believed, everyone and his aunt will get access to our email and browsing records without even a Court Order. The Times
Am I reading it correctly.
Quote
Details emerged in the government consultation paper published yesterday on plans for implementing an EU directive developed after the 7/7 London bombings. Records of every e-mail, internet session and telephone call made over the internet will be stored for a minimum of 12 months with police, local councils and other organisations able to access the details.
<snip>
But yesterday the Home Office admitted that data would be held for much wider purposes than tackling terrorism and serious crime – and hundreds more organisations would be able to access it.
The emergency services, the Serious Organised Crime Agency, every local council, health authorities, the Post Office, Home Office, Ministry of Defence, Health and Safety Executive, Food Standards Agency and Post Office will have access to the information. Since last October telecoms companies have been required to keep records of phone calls and texts. Law enforcement agencies and other public bodies would appoint an “authorising officer” from within their own workforce who approves requests for data.
The request would be made in an official letter, signed by the “authorising officer”, to a named contact within a telecoms firm or internet service provider who would be required to provide the information. This year Sir Christopher Rose, the Chief Surveillance Commissioner, gave warning of the inexperience of some authorising officers in local councils and government departments
Reading it a bit further some of the information is a bit useless
Quote
The information will include the date and times of the log-in and log-off from the internet – the “who, when, and where” of communication – but not the contents of calls, messages or lists of websites which had been accessed.
As I have an always on router the logoff and logon times are a bit irrelevant. So other than the fact that an email was sent or received from someone what else is going to be of any use other than internet phone calls
Quote
Records of every e-mail, internet session and telephone call made over the internet will be stored for a minimum of 12 months with police, local councils and other organisations able to access the details.
Finally - does the use of Skype for example bypass the system as it is based outside the UK.
47 REPLIES 47
artificer
Grafter
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Registered: ‎11-08-2007

Re: Email and browsing official snooping - nothing to do with Phorm or PlusNet

ratbags are spending billions of our money to spy on us, much good may it do them.  they can't administer simple record keeping.  who's to look at all that useless garbage?  who would want to waste a life sifting through all that rubbish?
the only reason it's been implemented is because they can.
samuria
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Re: Email and browsing official snooping - nothing to do with Phorm or PlusNet

Before long people will start using encryption in everything they do so the government will have to work for its money. There isnt much sense in storing every email and phone call for everyone in the uk. As 99% of it will be rubbish  the chances of spotting a email from Bin Ladnen are  billions to one. What is frightening is if anyone can get all this info together the information would be worth a fortune to spammers hackers etc and given the goverments track record it will be left on a train next week..
I wonder how much of this info gets sold like the voters list?
VileReynard
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Re: Email and browsing official snooping - nothing to do with Phorm or PlusNet

Quote from: samuria
I wonder how much of this info gets sold like the voters list?

At least you won't be able to blame the government for losing a few hundred laptops - they've already sold all the relevant information.

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

artmo
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Re: Email and browsing official snooping - nothing to do with Phorm or PlusNet

I read something on this in the week.  What a load of garbage!  Can you imagine the amount of jobs we'll have to create to do all this monitoring? What on earth would my local authority want details of my emails for and I can't imagine the Post Office would find them of interest.
It's just another example of 'Big brother is watching you' which this government seems to insist on doing.
VileReynard
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Re: Email and browsing official snooping - nothing to do with Phorm or PlusNet

As an example:-
We booked a short holiday in Paris, staying in a private Flat.
The Landlady asked to pay a small deposit by bank transfer and she gave
Her bank name,  (Branch and address)
Her IBAN (That's a unique International Banking Reference)
Her name
Her Swift code
Her sort code
Her account code
All in clear text.
If I was sufficiently clever to understand French banking, I think I could empty her account.
How many people send information like this?
It would have been safer if she had sent us a postcard with the information written on the front in large letters.

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

Midnight_Caller
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Re: Email and browsing official snooping - nothing to do with Phorm or PlusNet

Quote from: artificer
the only reason it's been implemented is because they can.

I have a saying just because you can do something doesn't meen that you should do it!
artmo
Aspiring Champion
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Registered: ‎12-08-2007

Re: Email and browsing official snooping - nothing to do with Phorm or PlusNet

Good adage MC.  If more people followed it life would be much less complicated.
Njal
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Posts: 290
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Email and browsing official snooping - nothing to do with Phorm or PlusNet

The Echelon system has been doing this for years:
"The report concludes that, on the basis of information presented, ECHELON was capable of interception and content inspection of telephone calls, fax, e-mail and other data traffic globally through the interception of communication bearers including satellite transmission, public switched telephone networks and microwave links. "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON
"All the text messages (written communications such as telexes, faxes, e-mail) intercepted at the Waihopai station are fed into these computers. This is an enormous mass of material -- literally all the business, government and personal messages that the station catches. The computers automatically search through everything as it arrives at the station.
"This is the work of the Dictionary program. It reads every word and number in every single incoming message and picks out all the ones containing target keywords and numbers. Thousands of simultaneous messages are read in 'real time' as they pour into the station, hour after hour, day after day, as the computer finds intelligence needles in the telecommunications haystack."
http://www.hermetic.ch/crypto/echelon/echelon.htm
Regards,
Neil
VileReynard
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Re: Email and browsing official snooping - nothing to do with Phorm or PlusNet

Do you think axisofevil is a keyword they search for?  Smiley Smiley Smiley Smiley

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

Oldjim
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Re: Email and browsing official snooping - nothing to do with Phorm or PlusNet

God
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Re: Email and browsing official snooping - nothing to do with Phorm or PlusNet

Quote from: samuria
Before long people will start using encryption in everything they do so the government will have to work for its money. There isnt much sense in storing every email and phone call for everyone in the uk. As 99% of it will be rubbish  the chances of spotting a email from Bin Ladnen are  billions to one. What is frightening is if anyone can get all this info together the information would be worth a fortune to spammers hackers etc and given the goverments track record it will be left on a train next week..
I wonder how much of this info gets sold like the voters list?

Sadly I don’t think the encryption / privacy thing will ever happen. I bagged myself some PGP keys donkeys years ago and several times since, can’t say I have ever met another soul who had or used them.
When you consider that most folks can’t even keep their computer working the thought of them all using encryption is fairly unlikely. The lowest common denominator will rule, clear comms.
Sam, I must say I don’t agree about the 99% being too much to be sorted, I reckon there will be plenty of software out there to sift through it, after all isn’t that exactly what the search engines do with 99% of the cr.ap data on the web?
PS: Plusnet, could you remove the word link:censored from the censor filter? It is hardly offensive in 2008 is it?
Peace be with Sam, Plusnet and the Data Sifters.
Moderators note by James_G : Do not attempt to avoid the word censor.
Njal
Grafter
Posts: 290
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Email and browsing official snooping - nothing to do with Phorm or PlusNet

Quote
When you consider that most folks can’t even keep their computer working the thought of them all using encryption is fairly unlikely. The lowest common denominator will rule, clear comms.

Never put anything in an email, text message or fax that you wouldn't write on a postcard!
I've often wondered if putting the word "plutonium" into every email would overload the Echelon system, but I doubt it. It does, however, probably mean that the spooks are now watching this thread. Be afraid, be very afraid.....
Regards,
Neil
pierre_pierre
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Re: Email and browsing official snooping - nothing to do with Phorm or PlusNet

especially if you go to Google in a few minutes, you will find this posting Wink
paulc
Newbie
Posts: 1
Registered: ‎31-07-2007

Re: Email and browsing official snooping - nothing to do with Phorm or PlusNet

New law forces service providers to record all your calls and emails from Monday
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/personal-web-data-to-be-stored-for-a-year-1662237.htm...