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Emergency phone and internet data storage law to be brought in
Emergency legislation will be brought in next week to force phone and internet companies to log records of customer calls, texts and internet use.
Ministers say it is necessary so police and security services can access the data they need after a legal ruling which declared existing powers invalid.
The proposed law has the backing of Labour and the coalition parties.
A special cabinet is being held to agree the planned laws, which will only last until 2016.
Prime Minister David Cameron and his Lib Dem Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will tell a special cabinet meeting on Thursday that emergency legislation is necessary to keep the country safe.
A recent ruling of the European Court of Justice has removed the obligation on telecoms companies to retain records of when and who their customers have called, texted and emailed.
Without a new law Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg will claim that that information could be destroyed within weeks by companies fearing legal challenges.
Labour is backing emergency legislation after all-party talks agreed that this law would enshrine existing rights and not be used to extend them by re-introducing the so-called "snoopers charter".
It will also bring in so-called safeguards including:
The creation of a new Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board to examine the impact of the law on privacy and civil liberties
A review of the controversial RIPA - Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act
Annual government transparency reports on how these powers are used
The law will include a so-called sunset clause - ensuring that these powers will die in 2016 - so there will be a longer and wider debate about what replaces them.
Critics will no doubt argue that the time for that debate is now. To pass any new law in just a week is rare. So too is it to have the backing of all three main parties even before it is published.
On a subject as sensitive as giving the police and security services access to phone and internet data this is bound to be controversial.
Update 08:45 BST: The emergency legislation will oblige telecom firms to retain data for 12 months. Under the European law which it replaces companies could be asked to retain data for 24 months.
More controversially the new law will also produce what is being described as a "clearer legal framework" to allow access to the content of calls, texts and emails after a warrant is signed by a senior government minister. Telecoms companies are said to have warned ministers that after the Edward Snowdon revelations they are vulnerable to legal challenge by their customers.
The Labour MP Tom Watson has condemned the plans as a "stitch up" which prevent MPs from considering the legislation properly.
Makes me wonder who they're afraid of.
Its hard to be awesome, when your playing with little plastic men. Welcome to Fantasy 40k
If you think your important, in the great scheme of things. Do the water test.
Put your hands in a bucket of warm water,
then pull them out fast. The size of the hole shows how important you are.
I think we should roll some dice, to see if we should roll some dice, To decide if all this dice rolling is good for the game.
2014/07/10 08:50:01
Subject: Re:Big brothers at it again, Phone logging
Everyone else is at it and they don't want to be left behind. "Emergency" just means "screw the public, what're they going to do about it?". This kind of surveillance is becoming the norm, if it isn't already, and sneaky little laws like this just hasten its arrival. It does strike me that one day people may not bat an eyelid at this kind of thing, though at the moment I doubt many people will be caring about this at all (the type that sits on their phone snap chatting all day ironically). =P
From what I can gather all that this means is that ISP will have to store info who calls or txts who and when for a at least one year. So basically the same information that appears on your phone bill.
the actual contents of communications is not stored and will only allowed to be monitored under a specific warrant that has to be signed by a Government Minister.
This really isn't all that Big Brother. That's the sort of information I would expect to be kept as standard anyway.
"And if we've learnt anything over the past 1000 mile retreat it's that Russian agriculture is in dire need of mechanisation!"
The panopticon is going to get shoved down the throats of the citizen, their wishes be damned.
I've kind of given up on bitching about it, and have gone to trying to picture how best to function in life despite it. Even if you do nothing wrong, it's hard to act casual after getting told by someone who has the power to do whatever they damn well feel like to you that they're going to watch you and judge you by the company you keep and the information you read.
daedalus wrote: Even if you do nothing wrong, it's hard to act casual after getting told by someone who has the power to do whatever they damn well feel like to you that they're going to watch you and judge you by the company you keep and the information you read.
It's a good job that this legislation doesn't actually do this, or anything like it for that matter then.
"And if we've learnt anything over the past 1000 mile retreat it's that Russian agriculture is in dire need of mechanisation!"
2014/07/10 18:42:40
Subject: Re:Big brothers at it again, Phone logging
daedalus wrote: Even if you do nothing wrong, it's hard to act casual after getting told by someone who has the power to do whatever they damn well feel like to you that they're going to watch you and judge you by the company you keep and the information you read.
It's a good job that this legislation doesn't actually do this, or anything like it for that matter then.
But what about 1984! It says Big Brother right there in the thread title! Are you telling me that people might not have read the article, and commented based on their perception of the issue?!
Non-sarcastically: This doesn't really surprise me. The ruling was a while ago, so I assumed that they'd just fiddle with the laws to enable them to do it again. That being said though, the actual requirements aren't actually that out there, and strike me as things that would be very useful in criminal proceedings.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/07/10 18:47:28
daedalus wrote: Even if you do nothing wrong, it's hard to act casual after getting told by someone who has the power to do whatever they damn well feel like to you that they're going to watch you and judge you by the company you keep and the information you read.
It's a good job that this legislation doesn't actually do this, or anything like it for that matter then.
Sigh.
Okay. You're right. You're absolutely right. Like, 100%, and stuff. They're not "going to watch you and judge you by the company you keep and the information you read." I made that up. Total fabrication. It's just going "to force phone and internet companies to log records of customer calls, texts and internet use" for apparent police use. No obvious way to do the former from the latter, and I apologize for my clear misdirection.
Sarcasm aside... maybe the UK is different. Here the oversight boards, transparency reports, and any other feel good promises would just be fluff that didn't actually amount to much, and the actual data use would get scope creeped quietly.
Still, it is creepy. I do not like the idea of living in a Big Brother esque police state where everything I do is monitored and determined by the goverment.
It may only start like this but you will son see...
[puts tinfoil hat on]
Free from GW's tyranny and the hobby is looking better for it
DR:90-S++G+++M++B++I+Pww205++D++A+++/sWD146R++T(T)D+
2014/07/10 21:47:55
Subject: Re:Big brothers at it again, Phone logging
daedalus wrote: Even if you do nothing wrong, it's hard to act casual after getting told by someone who has the power to do whatever they damn well feel like to you that they're going to watch you and judge you by the company you keep and the information you read.
It's a good job that this legislation doesn't actually do this, or anything like it for that matter then.
Sigh.
Okay. You're right. You're absolutely right. Like, 100%, and stuff. They're not "going to watch you and judge you by the company you keep and the information you read." I made that up. Total fabrication. It's just going "to force phone and internet companies to log records of customer calls, texts and internet use" for apparent police use. No obvious way to do the former from the latter, and I apologize for my clear misdirection.
Sarcasm aside... maybe the UK is different. Here the oversight boards, transparency reports, and any other feel good promises would just be fluff that didn't actually amount to much, and the actual data use would get scope creeped quietly.
Yes we are trustworthy. We would never spy on anybody. Not for ourselves, not for the NSA. The GCHQ thing is just a rumour.
Its hard to be awesome, when your playing with little plastic men. Welcome to Fantasy 40k
If you think your important, in the great scheme of things. Do the water test.
Put your hands in a bucket of warm water,
then pull them out fast. The size of the hole shows how important you are.
I think we should roll some dice, to see if we should roll some dice, To decide if all this dice rolling is good for the game.
I've come to the realization that the majority of people here in the US have been convinced and won over by the police state mentality. It's a shame how many people can't even comprehend the idea of history repeating because "That just can't happen these days"
"So, do please come along when we're promoting something new and need photos for the facebook page or to send to our regional manager, do please engage in our gaming when we're pushing something specific hard and need to get the little kiddies drifting past to want to come in an see what all the fuss is about. But otherwise, stay the feth out, you smelly, antisocial bastards, because we're scared you are going to say something that goes against our mantra of absolute devotion to the corporate motherland and we actually perceive any of you who've been gaming more than a year to be a hostile entity as you've been exposed to the internet and 'dangerous ideas'. " - MeanGreenStompa
"Then someone mentions Infinity and everyone ignores it because no one really plays it." - nkelsch
