[iwar] [fc:Police.get.sweeping.access.to.net.data]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-11-08 06:46:09


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Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 06:46:09 -0800 (PST)
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:Police.get.sweeping.access.to.net.data]
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Police get sweeping access to net data

Blunkett will not limit scope of measure to terrorist cases

Stuart Millar, technology correspondent
Wednesday November 7, 2001
The Guardian 

Sweeping proposals to give law enforcement agencies access to the
communications records of every UK telephone and internet user will not be
restricted to anti-terrorist investigations, despite assurances to the
contrary from the home secretary.

The Guardian has established that the detailed communications data to be
retained as part of the government's response to the September 11 attacks
will be available to police investigating minor crimes. It will also be
available for tax collection and public health and safety purposes.

Home Office officials involved in implementing the proposals in a voluntary
code of practice with the providers have confirmed there are no plans to
limit access to cases involving national security.

This directly contradicts what appeared to be an assurance given by David
Blunkett, the home secretary, two weeks ago in an attempt to soothe the
fears of civil liberties campaigners about the privacy implications of
blanket data retention.

In his column in Tribune on October 26, Mr Blunkett acknowledged that
internet and phone data retention raised serious concerns.

But he said that more information was needed than was available under
current law "strictly in the case of a criminal investigation against
suspected terrorists.

"That is why we are working with companies on a code of practice with the
result they will keep billing records for longer than at present, to allow
access in relation to anti-terrorist activity".

According to the Foundation for Information Policy Research, an independent
internet think tank, data involved would provide a "complete map of an
individual's life".

It is likely to include details of email addresses they have communicated
with, which internet service providers they use, when they used them and
which sites they visited while online. Officials now claim that Mr Blunkett
did not actually mean that the information would only be used for
anti-terrorist investigations.

Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, passed last year, law
enforcement agencies can obtain communications data without a court order
for a broad range of purposes. These include national security, preventing
or detecting crime and disorder, protecting public health and safety and
collecting tax. 

One official told the Guardian: "The data will be available for the full
range of purposes listed in the act."

Mark Seddon, the editor of Tribune and a member of Labour's national
executive committee, said: "He would have known that all the civil liberties
campaigners like Liberty would have read Tribune and that piece would have
done the rounds." 

Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: "We
understand the argument for data retention for specific purposes under
terror legislation for the period of an emergency. There is a different
argument, with much less justification, for general powers from now, in
theory, until eternity."

The development is likely to cause consternation among some internet and
phone companies. 

Steve Rawlinson, chief technical officer of Claranet, which has about
500,000 customers in the UK, said: "The request that came through after the
US attacks to collect certain types of data was reasonable because it was
being used for an anti-terrorist investigation.

"What worries us is that under Ripa [the act], the criteria for access are
pretty broad, so the police can demand the whole lot whenever they want on
their own authority."

Tomorrow, the Commons home affairs committee will begin hearing evidence as
it considers the emergency anti-terror bill, which is expected to be passed
later this month. 

Last night a Home Office spokeswoman denied that Mr Blunkett had intended
the Tribune article to mean that the information would only be used against
suspected terrorists. She said: "The article was by necessity an abridged
version of the proposals we are bringing forward."

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