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Proposed UK Communications Law Could Be Used To Spy On Physical Mail

Posted by timothy on from the old-bailey's-long-planned-demolition dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The BBC reports that the UK's Draft Communications Bill includes a provision which could be used to force the Royal Mail and other mail carriers to retain data on all physical mail passing through their networks. The law could be used to force carriers to maintain a database of any data written on the outside of an envelope or package which could be accessed by government bodies at will. Such data could include sender, recipient and type of mail (and, consequentially, the entire contents of a postcard). It would provide a physical analog of the recently proposed internet surveillance laws. The Home Office claims that it has no current plans to enforce the law."

6 of 125 comments (clear)

  1. Be very afraid... by frostilicus2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Someone should really tell the guys in power that 1984 was more of warning and less of a plan. Guess the old e-petition becomes invalid now: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/32400

    --
    Nothing sucks like a Vax, nothing blows like a PowerMac G4
  2. "no current plans to enforce the law." by NettiWelho · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "The Home Office claims that it has no current plans to enforce the law." Really? Then why is the provision in the bill then? If you dont need and dont plan on enforcing it why is it being passed then?

    1. Re:"no current plans to enforce the law." by mcavic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because if they decide to implement it in the future, they can do so without taking the time to pass a new law. And "current" means today, not tomorrow.

    2. Re:"no current plans to enforce the law." by Blue+Stone · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They say "no current plans" not "no current intentions".

      They have the intention of using it, they just haven't got around to drawing up the plans yet.

      Politicians lie. Even when they're telling the truth.

      --
      Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
    3. Re:"no current plans to enforce the law." by ATMAvatar · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Both liberals and conservatives screw the population as a whole. The liberals tend to lie about it and act like they want to do some good, while the conservatives are rather brazen about giving more money to the wealthy, but they both ultimately do the same thing - concentrate power and money into a small elite group.

      In the end, what trickles down to the rest of us isn't green - it's yellow.

      --
      "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
  3. Re:Does anyone actually believe that what's... by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    on the outside of an envelope (or any part of a post card) has ever actually been private? Certainly not I, even before I knew enough to care about privacy.

    You are overloading the term "private" - no one thought it was a secret, but only the crazies thought that the information on every single envelope was permanently recorded in a database. Crazy is the new normal.

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    When information is power, privacy is freedom.