Email and web use 'to be monitored' under new laws

[davieG]

BBC

The government will be able to monitor the calls, emails, texts and website visits of everyone in the UK under new legislation set to be announced soon.

Internet firms will be required to give intelligence agency GCHQ access to communications on demand, in real time.

The Home Office says the move is key to tackling crime and terrorism, but civil liberties groups have criticised it.

Tory MP David Davis called it "an unnecessary extension of the ability of the state to snoop on ordinary people".

Attempts by the last Labour government to take similar steps failed after huge opposition, including from the Tories.

'Unprecedented step'

A new law - which may be announced in the forthcoming Queen's Speech in May - would not allow GCHQ to access the content of emails, calls or messages without a warrant.

But it would enable intelligence officers to identify who an individual or group is in contact with, how often and for how long. They would also be able to see which websites someone had visited.

In a statement, the Home Office said action was needed to "maintain the continued availability of communications data as technology changes".

"It is vital that police and security services are able to obtain communications data in certain circumstances to investigate serious crime and terrorism and to protect the public," a spokesman said.

"As set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review we will legislate as soon as parliamentary time allows to ensure that the use of communications data is compatible with the government's approach to civil liberties."

But Conservative MP and former shadow home secretary David Davis said it would make it easier for the government "to eavesdrop on vast numbers of people".

"What this is talking about doing is not focusing on terrorists or criminals, it's absolutely everybody's emails, phone calls, web access..." he told the BBC.

"All that's got to be recorded for two years and the government will be able to get at it with no by or leave from anybody."

He said that until now anyone wishing to monitor communications had been required to gain permission from a magistrate.

"You shouldn't go beyond that in a decent civilised society, but that's what's being proposed."

'Attack on privacy'

Nick Pickles, director of the Big Brother Watch campaign group, called the move "an unprecedented step that will see Britain adopt the same kind of surveillance seen in China and Iran".

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"This is an absolute attack on privacy online and it is far from clear this will actually improve public safety, while adding significant costs to internet businesses," he said.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, added: "This is more ambitious than anything that has been done before. It is a pretty drastic step in a democracy."

The Internet Service Providers Association said any change in the law much be "proportionate, respect freedom of expression and the privacy of users".

The Sunday Times quoted an industry official who warned it would be "expensive, intrusive [and] a nightmare to run legally".

Even if the move is announced in the Queen's Speech, any new law would still have to make it through Parliament, potentially in the face of opposition in both the Commons and the Lords.

The previous Labour government attempted to introduce a central, government-run database of everyone's phone calls and emails, but eventually dropped the bid after widespread anger.

The then Home Secretary Jacqui Smith did pursue efforts similar to those being revisited now, but the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats continued to voice their concerns.

The shadow home secretary at the time, Chris Grayling, said the government had "built a culture of surveillance which goes far beyond counter terrorism and serious crime".

Chris Huhne, then the Lib Dem home affairs spokesman, said any legislation requiring communications providers to keep records of contact would need "strong safeguards on access", and "a careful balance" would have to be struck "between investigative powers and the right to privacy".

[Trav Le Bleu]

I can see some people who have wives working for GCHQ being worried about this.

[ozleicester]

Thank god the terrorists didnt win. Hmmmmmm

[Webbo]

Tory MP David Davis called it "an unnecessary extension of the ability of the state to snoop on ordinary people".

I wish he'd have won the Tory leadership contest.

[Gold Coast Fox]

Big Brother nation.

[Jon the Hat]

I can absolutely understand why GCHQ peeps would want this, why those fighting terrorism and so forth would want it. Also to a point why Government feeling the burden of responsibility would want it. My question is why bother when the NSA already see everything anyway?

[Fox92]

Seen this earlier somewhere else. Don't like the fact I'll be 'monitored', but it might be good to mop up the terrorists.

Is this in addition to Cameron saying he wanted to put a ban on Porn websites or something?

[Captain...]

*deletes internet history*

[Trav Le Bleu]

If you read the article. they need a warrant to do so, which means they have to provide reasonable suspicion that you're up to no good.

[Captain...]

Does anyone else thank that serious criminals already have secure and encrypted ways of communicating already? And if they don't they soon will have, also what is the jurisdiction for this? The internet is not bound by geography, if they are only able to access data sent within the UK then surely people will just set-up proxy servers in unmonitored countries and just communicate via them.

[Guest Bilo]

[I am Rod Hull]

Thank god the terrorists didnt win New World Order are winning.mmmmmm

I`v never believed in the 9/11 conspiracy theories, but now I`m not so sure....

Get ready for a fake terrorist attack at the Olympic games this year.

[Guest]

Given the whole "Twitter Joke Trial" fiasco, this could be a very dangerous move by the government.

[breadandcheese]

I wish he'd have won the Tory leadership contest.

Amen

[Steven]

Stop using the internet and your phone.

[The Doctor]

Got to say, I think I enjoyed the days when the terrorists were winning. There wasn't much that actually went down, and we appeared to have a bit more freedom.

[I am Rod Hull]

Got to say, I think I enjoyed the days when the terrorists were winning. There wasn't much that actually went down, and we appeared to have a bit more freedom.

Is the terrorist problem a Western construct that gives the powers that be an excuse to make ridiculous statutes that keep them on top and keep us down?

[The Doctor]

Is the terrorist problem a Western construct that gives the powers that be an excuse to make ridiculous statutes that keep them on top and keep us down?

I wouldn't say it's a western construct. We may over-hype it quite significantly so as to create hysteria and create more controlling laws, further curb our personal freedoms and in general impose themselves upon us too far, but I think it does exist, there are people out there who are willing to destroy sections of society over their poorly calculated "views" (And if you believe the media, it's usually ridiculous fundamentalist dogma they've subscribed to that makes them commit such attacks)

I await El Empty to arrive and say that actually Al-Qaeda are CIA, and the IRA were actually run by MI5 or something similar though.

[I am Rod Hull]

I wouldn't say it's a western construct. We may over-hype it quite significantly so as to create hysteria and create more controlling laws, further curb our personal freedoms and in general impose themselves upon us too far, but I think it does exist, there are people out there who are willing to destroy sections of society over their poorly calculated "views" (And if you believe the media, it's usually ridiculous fundamentalist dogma they've subscribed to that makes them commit such attacks)

I await El Empty to arrive and say that actually Al-Qaeda are CIA, and the IRA were actually run by MI5 or something similar though.

Yes, maybe they are using terrorism as a means to an end, because this stinks of the search for WMD in Iraq fiasco.

I think i`m getting more and more cynical, day by day. (or more enlightened)

[The Doctor]

Yes, maybe they are using terrorism as a means to an end, because this stinks of the search for WMD in Iraq fiasco.

I think i`m getting more and more cynical, day by day. (or more enlightened)

I think they're almost certainly exploiting the terrorism issue to impose laws that people wouldn't have stood for a decade or so ago (prior to 9/11), but I'm not cynical/enlightened enough to suggest that they actually started it off in the first place.

As far as I'm aware this controlling culture really sped up & took flight when Blair and his buddy Bush were pulling the strings, and I don't think they'd be smart enough to come up with the terrorist scheme. To take advantage though...

[I am Rod Hull]

I think they're almost certainly exploiting the terrorism issue to impose laws that people wouldn't have stood for a decade or so ago (prior to 9/11), but I'm not cynical/enlightened enough to suggest that they actually started it off in the first place.

As far as I'm aware this controlling culture really sped up & took flight when Blair and his buddy Bush were pulling the strings, and I don't think they'd be smart enough to come up with the terrorist scheme. To take advantage though...

Blair and Bush = Cameron and Obama, just monkeys on sticks. They have no real power in the grand scheme of things.

[Finnegan]

Well in that case, if they're going to find out anyway, I might as well get all my confessions in the open.

Yes, it was us. We have struck you where you least expected it. We have bombed the mosque.

[SOCCERROO FOX]

Between the porn and the private messages i send on FB i have no reason to use the internet.

God i hope they don't monitor me

[Daggers]

This isn't about now, this is about the future and governments centralising control to information for their own vested interests and that of their rich friends.

The 'if you've done nothing wrong' lobby will already be at their typewriters - but what happens when you treat an entire society like criminals? When every fan is a hooligan and every protestor is a terrorist?

As a blue-faced man said "They can take our freedom but they'll never take our cheesecaaaaaaaaake!"

Encrypted Tor networks and anonymous email boxes FTW.

[Guest Bilo]

Well in that case, if they're going to find out anyway, I might as well get all my confessions in the open.

Yes, it was us. We have struck you where you least expected it. We have bombed the mosque.

I'm just worried they'll find out about our attack on Boots.

CANCEL THE MARATHON BARRY!