Sunday, April 05, 2009
Year zero starts tomorrow
The Sunday Telegraph reports that details of every email sent and website visited by people in Britain are to be stored for use by the state from tomorrow as part of what campaigners claim is a massive assault on privacy:
Police and the security services will be able to access the information to combat crime and terrorism.
Hundreds of public bodies and quangos, including local councils, will also be able to access the data to investigate flytipping and other less serious crimes.
It was previously thought that only the large companies would be required to take part, covering 95 per cent of Britain's internet usage, but a Home Office spokesman has confirmed it will be applied "across the board" to even the smallest company.
Privacy campaigners say the move to force telecoms companies to store the data is the first step towards the controversial central database at the heart of the Home Office's Intercept Modernisation Programme, which will gather far more detailed information on Britain's online activities.
Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, said: "I don't think people are aware of the implications of this move. It means that everything we do online or on the phone will be known to the authorities.
"They are using this to produce probably the world's most comprehensive surveillance system.
"This is a disgraceful example of the covert influence that Brussels has across our freedoms and liberties. The entire episode has been marked by a litany of secret dealings, vicious political games and a complete absence of transparency."
Phil Noble of privacy group NO2ID, said: "This is the kind of technology that the Stasi would have dreamed of.
"We are facing a co-ordinated strategy to track everyone's communications, creating a dossier on every person's relationships and transactions.
"It is clearly preparatory work for the as-yet un-revealed plans for intercept modernisation."
It will cost millions of pounds of taxpayers money to maintain this database and yet it is unlikely that anybody will be safer as a result. No doubt the next we will hear about this project is when the information that is being stored goes missing.
Police and the security services will be able to access the information to combat crime and terrorism.
Hundreds of public bodies and quangos, including local councils, will also be able to access the data to investigate flytipping and other less serious crimes.
It was previously thought that only the large companies would be required to take part, covering 95 per cent of Britain's internet usage, but a Home Office spokesman has confirmed it will be applied "across the board" to even the smallest company.
Privacy campaigners say the move to force telecoms companies to store the data is the first step towards the controversial central database at the heart of the Home Office's Intercept Modernisation Programme, which will gather far more detailed information on Britain's online activities.
Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, said: "I don't think people are aware of the implications of this move. It means that everything we do online or on the phone will be known to the authorities.
"They are using this to produce probably the world's most comprehensive surveillance system.
"This is a disgraceful example of the covert influence that Brussels has across our freedoms and liberties. The entire episode has been marked by a litany of secret dealings, vicious political games and a complete absence of transparency."
Phil Noble of privacy group NO2ID, said: "This is the kind of technology that the Stasi would have dreamed of.
"We are facing a co-ordinated strategy to track everyone's communications, creating a dossier on every person's relationships and transactions.
"It is clearly preparatory work for the as-yet un-revealed plans for intercept modernisation."
It will cost millions of pounds of taxpayers money to maintain this database and yet it is unlikely that anybody will be safer as a result. No doubt the next we will hear about this project is when the information that is being stored goes missing.
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