Is mass email monitoring good?

[robzed]

Article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7819230.stm

Is this the right thing for our government to be doing?


Regards,
Rob

[robzed]

Some more details from the article:

To keep details of every e-mail sent in the UK for a year

Internet Service Providers will have to record who sent the email, to whom and when

The e-mail's content will not be stored

Data can be accessed by more than 600 public bodies, such as the police and councils, if they make a valid request

Part of a European Commission directive

[Alan C.]

I wouldn't worry about it robzed, every time the government try do set up anything more complex than a LAN, it goes tits up, usually taking £millions of our cash with it. On the other hand, if they want my emails I'll gladly forward them direct to Whitehall, as I'm not in the market for a "Swiss branded watch" Nor am I need of penis enlargement, Viagra, a weight loss program, or an online casino.
One just came in as I type "being 9" has never been easier, well I'm not cutting an inch for anybody thanks.
Seriously, I must reset my spam filter.

[Alan H]

I do wonder what the point is. What good is knowing that A sent an email to B at a particular time without knowing the content? It may give the police a list of contacts for someone, but I would have thought it is easy enough to make your email address and IP address such that they can't be traced to a particular person.

[robzed]

I think my problem with the whole thing is:
1. Centralise email recording
2. Trivial to extend to content, then phone, then ...
3. ID cards
4. Centralisation of all government information is going on at the moment
5. Police computer hacking (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho ... 25802.html - although I can't imagine that will work on my computer
6. Very likely to increase centralisation and data stored over next years
7. People don't realise the power that is being created over individuals

I believe most people are basically good. But governments will have some people who will abuse the power.

The fact that they mess up so many IT projects is cold comfort.

That sounds really depressing ... sorry

[Alan H]

I meant to add what Rob has just said in his second point. I'm sure also storing the content could be very easily done without anyone ever knowing.

Having said that, what are the implications on storage space? Even if they just stored the first few lines on an email, I'm sure that would be better 'intelligence' on anyone. They might even be able to prevent a crime before it happened...the thought police are out to get you...I've just had an idea for a film...

[Alan C.]

Shit it posted earlier! I was just getting timed out for about an hour, and thought it hadn't posted.
Please delete this one.

[Alan H]

Our webspace provider has had a load of problems with the server we're on today. They say it was another account on the same server trying to use too many resources, causing it to crash. I've complained, but we're stuck with it for the time being.

Alan, do you want me to delete your last post since your earlier one did get posted?

[Alan C.]

Our webspace provider has had a load of problems with the server we're on today. They say it was another account on the same server trying to use too many resources, causing it to crash. I've complained, but we're stuck with it for the time being.

Alan, do you want me to delete your last post since your earlier one did get posted?

Yes please powerful one

[ThinkHumanism]

Alan

Thinking about it, it'd be more confusing to delete what is now not a duplicate and I'd have to edit my post because it would then refer to a non-existent post...not worth the hassle!

[Alan C.]

Alan

Thinking about it, it'd be more confusing to delete what is now not a duplicate and I'd have to edit my post because it would then refer to a non-existent post...not worth the hassle!

Lazy bugger!
This thread is way off topic now.

[Alan H]

This is a similar topic to another one.

[robzed]

They might even be able to prevent a crime before it happened.

Was this sarcasm?

[Alan H]

Was this sarcasm?

Wasn't the reference to a film a clue? Can't remember what it's called or who was in it [---][/---] the one where the government knows what's going to happen and arrests 'criminals' before they do it.

[Emma Woolgatherer]

Minority Report?

[Alan H]

Thanks Emma - that's the one!

[Alan H]

More on this in today's Guardian:

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Internet service providers to record all emails and calls | Technology | The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/20 ... ta-storage
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ISPs to record all emails and calls

Recorded delivery: New data retention law

* Digg it (5)

* Chris Tryhorn
* The Guardian, Monday 6 April 2009
* Article history

Internet service providers are to keep records of emails and online phone calls under controversial new government regulations that come into force today.

ISPs will be legally obliged to store details of emails and internet telephony for 12 months as a potential tool to aid criminal investigations. Although the content of emails and calls will not be held, ISPs will be asked to record the date, time, duration and recipients of online communications.

The new regulations are contained in an EC directive on data retention that already applies to telecoms providers and is now being extended to ISPs.

The directive was conceived as a response to the London bombings of July 2005, following which the Council of the European Union highlighted "the need to adopt common measures on the retention of telecommunications data".

"Knowing when someone sent an email or made an IP telephony call, and knowing who they emailed or called, is very revealing information - these regulations potentially put that information in the hands of a wide range of public bodies," said Sam Parr, a lawyer specialising in communications at Baker & McKenzie.

Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, said this was "nowhere near as disproportionate and terrifying" as government plans for a central database of communications information, which she believes poses a greater long-term threat to civil liberties.

[Retrieved: Mon Apr 06 2009 11:17:56 GMT+0100 (GMT Standard Time)]

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[Daniel P]

Have law enforcement or crime prevention experts said anything about the effectiveness of that?

[Alan H]

I think the Government announced the other day that they were giving up on this. Only a conspiracy theorist would take that to mean that they are proceeding full steam ahead...

[Alan H]

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GCHQ denies plans to spy on all UK e-mails and phone calls - The Scotsman
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/uk/GCHQ ... 5233273.jp
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GCHQ denies plans to spy on all UK e-mails and phone calls

Published Date: 05 May 2009
By Gavin Cordon
THE government's secret electronic eavesdropping agency GCHQ has issued a rare public statement to deny that it is pressing ahead with plans to monitor all internet use and telephone calls in the UK.
The organisation said that a reported £1 billion "snooping" project at GCHQ's complex at Cheltenham was simply intended to enable the organisation to keep pace with developments in internet technology.

"GCHQ is not developing technology to enable
ADVERTISEMENT
the monitoring of all internet use and phone calls in Britain, or to target everyone in the UK," the statement said. "Similarly, GCHQ has no ambitions, expectations or plans for a database or databases to store centrally all communications data in Britain."

It had been reported that a Mastering the Internet (MTI) programme would enable GCHQ to "spy at will" on e-mails, website visits, social networking sessions, and telephone calls made over the internet.

In its statement, GCHQ acknowledged the existence of the MTI project, but denied it was a covert monitoring programme.

Instead, the agency said that it was intended to ensure GCHQ kept pace with the latest developments in internet technology – although it gave little concrete idea of what was involved.

"One of our greatest challenges is maintaining our capability in the face of the growth in internet-based communications and voice-over internet telephony. We must reinvest continuously to keep up with the methods that are used by those who threaten the UK and its interests," it said.

"Just as our predecessors at Bletchley Park mastered the use of the first computers, today, partnering with industry, we need to master the use of internet technologies and skills that will enable us to keep one step ahead of the threats. This is what mastering the internet is about."

[Retrieved: Tue May 05 2009 10:14:31 GMT+0100 (GMT Standard Time)]

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