Slashdot Mirror
UK Local Councils Spy On Emails and Calls
MrSteveSD writes "The Daily Mail is reporting that local councils have been using the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to spy on people's phone and email records. Reasons given for the surveillance include checking for evidence of people storing petrol without permission and investigating unburied animal carcasses. The surveillance was uncovered using Freedom of Information laws. The scope of the RIPA act is staggering. It would be simpler to list who isn't allowed to access your phone and email records. Aside from political action, what can be done technologically to combat this threat? Use Skype rather than the normal telephone?"
Of course they want sound. It makes being a peeping tom council worker so much more entertaining:
On the bright side, 28->42 days is only an extra 2 weeks... the Patriot Act allows the US government to lock people up FOREVER without charge.
That's why it is so important to argue the case for and against every law, before it becomes law. It's easy to write an introduction saying 'this is to stop terrorists', but much harder to frame the law so that it only applies to terrorism cases.
I'd say move! I left Blighty for Switzerland a few months ago, and have a whole new perspective now that I'm the foreigner. Generally great, but jeez, sometimes the Swiss make you feel like an outsider!
Local councillors are people who are so worthless and incompetent, they can't even be an MP. Why should we trust them with any information at all?
This is a country where the most popular entertainment is watching a TV program where people in a house are recorded 24 hours a day.
I doubt people here care that much.