2009/1/9 Rob Malpass <lug@???>:
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sean Gibbins" <sean@???>
> To: "Hampshire LUG Discussion List" <hampshire@???>
> Sent: Friday, January 09, 2009 8:47 AM
> Subject: [Hampshire] [Chat] Another brick in the wall
>
>
>> The BBC are reporting that the law requiring all ISPs to keep a copy of
>> the headers of all emails passing through their email servers is being :
>>
>> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7819230.stm
>>
>> Apparently 'small ISPs' are exempt, along with, presumably, private
>> individuals.
So anyone who does not want their mail snooped on will use a small ISP.
>>
>> Presumably the terrorists, paedophiles and organised criminals won't
>> know this and the huge effort and investment required to implement it,
>> along with the further erosion of our rights, will all be worthwhile.
My guess is that they will know this and take advantage of it.
This has to be an all or nothing system, otherwise it just pointless.
>>
>> Reading on down the article there are similar plans for SMS messages
>> too, although for some reason the Post Office will not be required to
>> open each and every letter and keep a record of who sent it, who it was
>> too, when it was written, etc. Oddly inconsistent that..
Oh yes, it gets much worse. If they get their way every single form of
electronic communication will be logged. Not just e-mail but every web
page visited, every text message, voice call, instant messenger,
everything.
They _say_ no content will be recorded, but we have all seen feature
creep before. My bet is that if they succeed in implementing this then
it is only a matter of time until they decide that not quite enough
info is being stored so they will start to log content as well.
Then there is the whole idea of combining this all into a single
database. Whilst ISPs and telcos do all the work there is at least
some effort involved in getting at the info. Once it is all combined
into a single db it everything will be just one click away. And also
lets not forget that not only will the police and security forces be
able to use the db, your council will too as will just about every gov
agency.
With so many people having access, how long will it take before leaks
start happening? With the number of security lapses we have seen over
the last few months I have no confidence that the data will remain
secure at all.
<snip>
>
> Out of interest (and showing my ignorance perhaps) why are they collecting
> from all ISPs - why not just collect from the sender's ISP? Surely this
> will just create 20 lines of data (one per hop) for every email sent?
They can't ask non-UK ISPs to log so they have to log all incoming
mail as well as out-going.
>
> I must admit that I shudder whenever I hear about government IT projects.
> I have some experience of the way IT is approached by the "top of the
> office" in Whitehall and it is truly remarkable how much ignorance there is.
> That's why government IT projects involve so many different groups and the
> end up with massive communication problems keeping everyone informed.
> Hence they're slow and things get missed in an effort to cover every base.
>
> The only redeeming factor (if that's the right phrase) is that nobody does
> IT on the scale that govt do - but that's no excuse IMHO: privacy is
> privacy.
And combining everything into just one db makes it all the more
complex. Now they have to coordinate all those telcos and ISPs so
their data is compatible and fed into the database securely. They have
to manage access to everything by all those agencies. It will be a
total administrative nightmare and just about impossible to do right.
I see a great business opportunity in helping people avoid all this.
All comms between your PC and the rest of the world could be encrypted
and sent via an off-shore, non-UK, proxy/anonamiser. All that logging
will then show only that you connect to one service and nothing else.
Of course most people won't bother and the gov will be very successful
in helping husbands and wives find out if their other halves are
cheating on them. Anyone doing anything seriously illegal will work
around the problem as they already do.
Result: Everyone loses their freedom for very little benefit.
I wonder if saying this on a public mailing list makes me a
subversive? Probably not, but who knows who is reading this..?
R
