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UK Reconsiders Expansion of Surveillance Powers

Posted by michael on from the magna-what? dept.

davecl writes "BBC News Online is reporting that the plans to allow a vast range of bodies to access email and phone records have now been shelved. They seem to have been surprised by the depth and breadth of opposition. The measures may surface again after November in the new session of parliament, but they'll be taking it much more seriously then. Looks like we may have scored a notable success here, but continued vigilance will be needed."

12 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I takes a big man to say... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I dont give him any credit for it. These people are elected to make sensible decisions for the public good. Of course they should admit it if they balls things up. They dont deserve a gold star for it!
    They shouldnt have been stupid enough to bring forward this proposal in the first place, now they have finally seen sense there is no reason for us to get the bunting out. We need politicians who are aware enough of the issues not to wastetheir time with pointless snooping laws like this in the first place.

  2. Re:Phew by PhilHibbs · · Score: 3, Insightful
    I think the House of Lords is the best part of our democracy. It may seem counterintuitive that an unelected body enjoys this accolade, but it's true. I think it's basically because the farcical popularity contests that we call elections (on both sides of the pond) are a far cry from a decent, working democracy.

    I just hope that Tony's reforms don't wreck the system entirely.

  3. of course... by nicklott · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ..this just means they're going to call it something different and pass it without telling us, but at least they said they were wrong, it's not often they do that.

  4. Control freaks by Moderation+abuser · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The current government seem to be a bunch of control freaks. Gatsos, cameras everywhere, monitoring email, RIP etc.

    I actually voted for them at the last election to make sure that the Conservatives were kicked out, but not again. I realised the other day that I was agreeing with some of the things the Conservative politicians were saying. It made me feel dirty. I'll be voting Liberal from now on.

    --
    Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
    1. Re:Control freaks by ranulf · · Score: 3, Insightful
      The current government seem to be a bunch of control freaks. Gatsos, cameras everywhere, monitoring email, RIP etc.

      Agreed. I really can't see why they thought this bill would help. If they just wanted mail headers, they truly wouldn't learn much of any great benefit anyway.

      Of course, I doubt this is their plan. Given their stated aims of wanting to be able to read every e-mail that goes through the UK: We needed to take powers so that we could decrypt commercial encrypted emails and other communications. Why? Because we knew that terrorists were going to use this," said Straw, it's clear that the government really do want to turn us into a big brother state.

      This power will be abused, it's just a matter of time, and if commercial spying by select companies becomes legal, it's obvious that people within these companies will be tempted to engage in industrial espionage.

      --
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  5. It's gonna happen anyway.... by HowlinMad · · Score: 3, Insightful

    but I dont need to know about it. I know there are secret government organizations monitoring what we all do, but I can;t prove that and they don't tell me, so its ignorant bliss. They are gooing to do it anyways, just don't tell me, and I will stay happy. (But I still don't want them to do it....)

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  6. Its not over yet. by Hunts · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Its important to note that the plans have only been put off till Novemeber. Yes, the Government was a little shocked by the ammount of attention the changes to the RIP act got. But putting it off till November isnt likely to be about re-writing the changes, but more likely to give the government time to smooth the waters over with MP's so that come November no one notices when its voted on and passed.
    The RIP act should be over turned completly, not expanded in any way shape or form.

    --
    "Enlightenment is your ego's biggest disappointment." --Yoginanda
  7. admit I'm surprised by fw3 · · Score: 2, Insightful
    At the rules that government puts on official sniffing. I'm glad the UK Home Office has realized this was a mistake. Honestly I think part of the problem is that beaureaucrats and managers still don't follow the details of this technology well enough to gauge the societal effects of some policy ideas.

    Equally, it was interesting to hear of the FBI agent who accidentally dumped sniffed al quaida emails when he(she?) realized that unauthorized private emails had been recorded.

    While I'm very much concerned about some of the responses post sept 11, when I read the statutes, they were(e.g.) quite explicit about granting authority to read *headers*.

    Mostly I think these folks are acting in good faith and often the biggest headlines originate in things that are still 1/2 baked on release.

    'course software can be like that also

    --
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  8. Don't get complacent. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    David Blunkett has a method of getting what he wants:
    1) Propose draconian unworkable legislation.
    2) Await the huge opposion.
    3) Retract the proposal and quickly pass original intended less-severe version while everyone is celebrating victory.

    I'm serious, keep your eye on him. We must not let this sort of thing pass in ANY FORM. A single miniscule step in the wrong direction is too far. I will be continuing to push for the original unmodified act to be cut down to size also. I suggest you do the same if you live in the UK.

  9. Re:finally by Darren+Winsper · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Oh please, the date when the US started caring about terrorism outside its borsers is 11/9/01. The UKs been dealing with terrorism for a lot longer than that.

  10. Re:finally by idfrsr · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...but hopefully France and Canada and other second-world nations will follow suit.

    France and Canada are second-world nations ? The second world nations were the communist countries back in the days of the chilly-war...

    As for everyone doing they're part for terrorism, the US' long history of support tyrannical dictatorships and also supporting the world's worst terrorist, Pol Pot, makes a me little hesitant to jump on any US foriegn policy bandwagon....

    --
    "The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away" -Tom Waits
  11. sheild the wrong people? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Kiddie pr0n is bad.

    There i spoke out against it so i'm not condoning that behaviour. You're right, we shouldn't shield the wrong people, we should shield everyone. So basically your idea is that we should grant everyone privacy except maybe terrorists and kiddie pr0nographers? That is the way it currently works. I'm constantly reassured that I have nothing to fear b/c i'm not doing anything wrong. ;)

    Who gets to choose the people that get spied on? I don't have a problem with the fact that law enforcement has the power to set up wiretaps and spy. The problem is with the oversight involved. Who watches the watchers? How do we curb abuses of wiretap powers?