UK 'must log' phone and web use

Eugen Leitl eugen at leitl.org
Sun Jun 7 23:58:52 PDT 2009


(Incidentally, Piratepartiet hit 7.1% in Sweden (19% of
18-30 year old voters) and 0.9% in Germany in last Sunday's
EU vote -- ARRRRR me hearties!)

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8087530.stm?ad=1

UK 'must log' phone and web use

All internet and phone traffic should be recorded to help the fight against
terrorism, according to one of the UK's former spy chiefs.

Civil rights campaigners have criticised ministers' plans to log details of
such contact as "Orwellian".

But Sir David Pepper, who ran the GCHQ listening centre for five years, told
the BBC lives would be at risk if the state could not track communication.

Agencies faced "enormous pressure" to keep up with technology, he said.

"It's a constant arms race, if you like. As more technology, different
technology becomes available, the balance will shift constantly."

The work of GCHQ, which provides intelligence on foreign and domestic
threats, is so secretive that until the 1980s the government refused to
discuss its existence.  b The thing you worry about most is the attack that
you haven't seen coming b Sir David Pepper

In his first interview since departing as its director in 2008, Sir David
told BBC2 programme Who's Watching You that the agency had "very
sophisticated targets".

"There are plenty of people who will do all they can to make themselves
difficult to find.

"It puts enormous pressure on you. Everybody in the agency is acutely aware
that if they don't do their job properly one of the consequences may be
another terrorist outrage.

"The thing you worry about most is the attack that you haven't seen coming."

Last year, then Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced plans for a database to
record details of the times and dates of messages and phone calls but said
the content of conversations would not be kept.

She said such data was used as "important evidence in 95% of serious crime
cases" and in almost all security service operations.

'Pervasive'

Details of the times, dates, duration and locations of mobile phone calls,
numbers called, website visited and addresses e-mailed are already stored by
telecoms companies for 12 months under a voluntary agreement.

However, the Liberal Democrats said the government's plans were "incompatible
with a free country and a free people".

In February, the Lords constitution committee said electronic surveillance
and collection of personal data had become "pervasive" in British society.

Its members said the situation threatened to undermine democracy.

However, Sir David said he was speaking out to help people understand that
agencies were there to protect them.

Who's Watching You? will be broadcast Monday 8 June at 9pm on BBC Two and
will also be available on BBC 





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