UK Snooper's Charter To Extend Police Access To Phone and Internet Data (theguardian.com)

An anonymous reader writes with this news from the Guardian about a proposed expansion of UK government agencies' power to eavesdrop under the so-called "snooper's charter": Powers for the police to access everyone's web browsing histories and to hack into their phones are to be expanded under the latest version of the snooper's charter legislation. The extension of police powers contained in the investigatory powers bill published on Tuesday indicates the determination of the home secretary, Theresa May, to get her controversial legislation on to the statute book by the end of this year in spite of sweeping criticisms by three separate parliamentary committees in the past month. The bill is designed to provide the first comprehensive legal framework for state surveillance powers anywhere in the world. It has been developed in response to the disclosure of state mass surveillance programmes by the whistleblower Edward Snowden. The government hopes it will win the backing of MPs by the summer and by the House of Lords this autumn.

Comments

We need kryptonite

[BarbaraHudson]

Specifically we need the sort of kryptonite that kills this dead - end to end encryption on unhackable devices that will wipe themselves. For calling, for email, for texts - with only metadata, they won't go nearly as far.

Re:We need kryptonite

[erikkemperman]

Funny also how she wants to rush this through, right when everyone is distracted by the Brexit farce. Coincidence? I think not.

Re: We need kryptonite

[BarbaraHudson]

if this helps to prevent just one criminal act, it's worth it. Think of the children!

If this allows the police to mis-interpret just one kid's conversations, it's not worth it. Think of the children!

Re: We need kryptonite

[AmiMoJo]

My MP make a similar claim when I asked her about this a few years back. She said something along the lines of "in the past this helped the police get to a girl who was about to commit suicide, so you can see why it's so important a power." I pointed out that abuse of this power has lead to several suicides, but she did that standard MP thing of ignoring the point/question put to her and simply repeating her pre-prepared statement.

Re: We need kryptonite

[gstoddart]

The unfortunate thing about such people is they have no grasp of the fact that they're morons.

To them, "won't someone think of the children" trumps any rational thought. Stopping that one suicide is a perfect justification to shit all over the rights of everybody else.

Sadly, your MP is too stupid to know she's a fucking idiot.

Great comeback

[U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M]

It has been developed in response to the disclosure of state mass surveillance programmes by the whistleblower Edward Snowden.

So their answer to state mass surveillance programmes is more state mass surveillance programmes?

People: Hey guys, we're sinking!
Government: Let's pump more water into the boat!

Re:Great comeback

[wardrich86]

People: Hey guys, we're sinking! Government: Let's pump more water into the boat!

Are you fucking dumb? The solution isn't to pump more water into the boat... you've gotta drill holes in the bottom of the boat so that all the water flowing into the boat has a way to escape. Stop thinking like an American, and start thinking more like the UK.

Re:Great comeback

[Locke2005]

Sounds perfectly rational to me. Their response to people pointing out that they are doing unlawful surveillance is to make it retroactively legal!

How to create a police state;

[Anonymous Coward]

give the police the powers enjoyed by the police in a police state.

It seems strange to me that they do not realize that in asking for these powers (well taking these powers and subsequently making any illegal actions retrospectively legal) they mark themselves as exactly the people and organizations that should not in any circumstances be given these powers.

Shameful really.

Re:How to create a police state;

[AmiMoJo]

It's political cowardice. Cameron in particular is a coward, but there are plenty of them in his party.

The police/MI5/GCHQ find their job difficult and so demand new powers to spy on people. The politicians don't want to say no because then if something happens like a terrorist attack of particularly nasty crime they will get the blame. "Why didn't you give police/MI5 the powers they needed to prevent this?" newspapers will ask.

The politicians don't have the backbone to stand up to this. Cameron has even said so when asked about these powers. He openly admitted it.

The Home Secretary, Ms. May, has the additional pressure of needing to bring crime stats down consistently too, while also making cuts to the security services. All the efficiency savings have been made years ago, the only way forward is to give in to their demands which they claim will make their jobs easier.

Re:How to create a police state;

[Maritz]

I'd like to agree but don't think I can. I think the politicians want those powers, they've always wanted them, and when they get them they'll be back for more.

Re:How to create a police state;

[currently_awake]

You've got it backwards. They are already doing this, but want to legalize it so they can stop worrying about getting arrested.