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

Posted by timothy on Sunday June 17, 2012 @07:36AM 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."

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Re:What are Brits control freaks? by Gordonjcp · 2012-06-17 09:25 · Score: 0, Offtopic

It's actually the US that has the most CCTV per capita, *and* armed police everywhere ready to shoot you if you cross the road in the wrong place, or say something bad about the president.
I live in the UK, and there isn't a CCTV camera within 50 miles of this place. I wish there was, it might stop manky bastards dumping rubbish at the foot of our road every other night.