UK Government Backtracks On Black Box Snooping

judgecorp writes "On the day the so-called snooper's charter was included in proposed UK legislation, as part of the Queen's Speech, it has emerged that the government is already backtracking on the controversial idea of making ISPs install black boxes to collect traffic and pass it to the authorities. The bill is not yet in a draft form, and TechWeek has learned there is a lot of maneuvering behind the scenes."

Comments

you don't understand how politics works

[Anonymous Coward]

You never ask for what you want. You ask for more than what you want, and pretend to have made concessions. You end up with exactly what you want.

Also, the big ISPs have so many government contracts that they will happily cooperate voluntarily. If you want privacy, you would do well to use a small ISP - particularly ones like A&A with a vocally anti-censorship and anti-snooping agenda.

Re:you don't understand how politics works

[Anonymous Coward]

You never ask for what you want. You ask for more than what you want, and pretend to have made concessions. You end up with exactly what you want.

True, although in any civilised country the mere act of asking for such a broad sweeping surveillance system should be sufficient grounds for the requestor to be immediately removed from office for being some kind of batshit crazy voyeur/control freak. How would we have reacted 20 years ago if the Home Office had asked that the Post Office open every letter sent, and photocopy it before sending it to its intended destination? We'd think them crazy. This request for the automatic routing of data to GCHQ is no less crazy than this, so in this case there should not be negotiation or haggling - just the immediate sacking of the person requesting this stuff.

Re:you don't understand how politics works

[L4t3r4lu5]

That's not just politics, that's Negotiation 101, which applies to far more than politics. The difference is that in most other negotiations you don't want to be so outrageous that the other party walks away, whereas in 21st century politics that can be a bonus that makes your base happy.

Or, as I like to put it, "If you want a puppy, ask for a horse."

Re:Encrypted VPN

[Big Hairy Ian]

That's ok for the likes of you and me but what about your average Joe Public who doesn't even know what a VPN is. Yes the techies like us can circumvent this but this legislation will effect every one not just us.

the queen never backtracks...

[Covalent]

We are at war with Eurasia...we have always been at war with Eurasia