Government to monitor Internet Use

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by martyh

That young sir ,is becoming increasingly apparent ,and it is quite concerning how dogged the government seem to be over some policies that fly in the face of public opinion and common sense.Almost as if they are desperate to get some new legislation in place before the end of their term in office just so they can say they have actually done something.

Not just public opinion and common sense, but also flies in the face of what each Coalition party used to say when in opposition.

The Tories and Lib Dems both used to be against all the crazy authoritarian database state / surveillance state crap that New Labour loved so much. It was one of the few things that gave me some hope about the Coalition at the beginning.

I wonder how much power and influence the civil servants at the Home Office have. It does seem to me that no matter which party is in power, the Home Office still comes out with this kind of BS that it *insists* is absolutely necessary to protect us all from Paedo-Terrorist Evildoers.

Originally Posted by martyh

He'll get a smack and do what he is told .

Yup!

Originally Posted by Fawkes

Basically the report says, back to the drawing board. I don't think it will go through unchanged given that even some Conservatives are against it.

That said, I'm not sure if in the end it will be kill or compromise.

Kill, hopefully...However I still wouldn't be surprised to see it go through virtually unchanged, perhaps a token compromise.

Yeah it's not. Clegg is throwing a little hissy fit. They go humor him and then pass the bill mostly unchanged. Probably with a super duper PROMISE it won't be abused.

[Fawkes]

Originally Posted by Matt D

I wonder how much power and influence the civil servants at the Home Office have. It does seem to me that no matter which party is in power, the Home Office still comes out with this kind of BS that it *insists* is absolutely necessary to protect us all from Paedo-Terrorist Evildoers.

I can answer that, his name is Charles Farr

He is in a relationship with Fiona Cunningham, a Special Advisor to Theresa May, the current Home Secretary.[2]

He has been responsible for the Prevent anti-terrorism strategy, the Interception Modernisation Programme under Labour and the current Communications Capabilities Development Programme, both being projects to enable to the government to surveil the traffic data of ordinary Internet communications of UK citizens.[1] The programme has resulted in the draft Communications Data Bill 2012.

He is controversially tipped to become the Permanent Secretary at the Home Office: "the expected promotion of ex-spook Charles Farr, the official most closely linked to ‘Big Brother Britain’, has sparked a heated debate among senior civil servants – and MPs."

[Tezcatlipoca]

"Look, we said we will support "Same Sex Marriages Even in a (non-CofE) Church", and so you will support the "Snoopers' Charter"? Yes? Good boy! Have a treat! Now rollover! There's a good boy!"

---------- Post added at 23:04 ---------- Previous post was at 23:02 ----------

Ah... very interesting!

Originally Posted by Matt D

"Look, we said we will support "Same Sex Marriages Even in a (non-CofE) Church", and so you will support the "Snoopers' Charter"? Yes? Good boy! Have a treat! Now rollover! There's a good boy!"

---------- Post added at 23:04 ---------- Previous post was at 23:02 ----------

Ah... very interesting!

[Chrysalis]

there is so many ways to send messages over the internet, this bill wouldnt even come close even if fully enforced to be able to monitor.

People sending unencrypted emails using isp broadband supplied email accounts is a small % of worldwide messages sent.

Yeah I don't understand how they'll monitor Gmail messages, behind a SSL, or Facebook messages and so on. They can't get those companies to hand stuff over because they're not based here.

[Anonymouse]

<slightly O/T>
Could people stop using the term "common sense", please? If common sense were an animal, its status would be somewhere between Critcally Endangered and Extinct.
</slightly O/T>

Originally Posted by Damien

Yeah I don't understand how they'll monitor Gmail messages, behind a SSL, or Facebook messages and so on. They can't get those companies to hand stuff over because they're not based here.

They'll just talk to the Septics, who will invoke Homeland Security to Google/MS/et al, who will release the info - GCHQ/NSA/CSE/DSD/GCSB have always used the UK-US Security Agreement for this sort of thing.

Originally Posted by Hugh

They'll just talk to the Septics, who will invoke Homeland Security to Google/MS/et al, who will release the info - GCHQ/NSA/CSE/DSD/GCSB have always used the UK-US Security Agreement for this sort of thing.

Would that really work? Google handing over data via the US government for a law that isn't applicable where the data is being held? The cost for a start wouldn't be welcome..

Homeland Security have some very scary powers.....

Originally Posted by Hugh

Homeland Security have some very scary powers.....

even the name invokes Owellian fears

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/techno...cle3745528.ece

Sweeping plans to hand the security services the power to snoop on e-mails, website visits and social media sites are dangerous and must be abandoned, David Cameron has been warned.

Cyber-security experts have written to the Prime Minister saying that the proposals “will be expensive, will hinder innovation and will undermine the privacy of citizens”. It is a blow to the credibility of the proposals, which are undergoing major revisions after opposition from Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Democrats.

Really wish the Government would just ditch this horrible bill. How they can even it's acceptable to propose such a solution is beyond me especially after they rightly protested about Labour's similar plan during the last Parliament. It's hideously open to abuse from civil servants, since the Government doesn't think you need a warrant to access citizen's data, and to a nightmare scenario of the data being hacked or otherwise leaked into the public domain. Worse it gives this tool to future Governments whose motives we aren't yet to know.

The Government should be doing the exact opposite of this. Passing laws to protect citizens' rights and strengthening data protection laws. Not making it so that every facet of your life is digitally recorded for the convenience of the state. You can barely step into the outside world without your every movement being recorded and now you won't be able to communicate with anybody, search for anything, or visit any site without the Government monitoring it.

What the stupid government do not understand is anyone doing anything seriously wrong will have methods in place so they can not be traced anyway. Hacked WIFI networks Burner phones with internet access tethering to these devices Tor VPNs and methods far more advanced than this. All they will ever snoop and trace is the petty criminal and Joe Public with nothing to hide. A total waste of money

Well there is that as well. Most of us know how to use VPNs, it's very easy. However you don't really want to use one all the time, American ones are useful for Hulu and such, but it's slower and less secure for internet banking and so on. It's only going to catch stupid terrorists and the general public.