Slashdot Mirror


UK 'Emergency' Bulk Data Slurp Permissible In Pursuit Of 'Serious Crime' (theregister.co.uk)

An anonymous reader writes: Bulk collection of data from phone calls and emails by carriers acting under government orders could be permissible in the pursuit of 'serious crime'. That's the preliminary ruling in a case brought by Brexit chief minister David Davis against PM Theresa May before the European Union's highest court. The ruling suggests bulk collection and retention of customer data might not be in breach of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights -- if it's done legally and with safeguards. Davis with Labour Party deputy leader Tom Watson and others brought their case to the European Court of Justice in February.

48 comments

  1. this is serious by turkeydance · · Score: 0

    and that's serious, too

    1. Re:this is serious by jfdavis668 · · Score: 1, Funny

      I am serious — and don’t call me Shirley.

    2. Re:this is serious by infolation · · Score: 1
      And it's legal because it's legal...

      The ruling suggests bulk collection and retention of customer data might not be in breach of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights -- if it's done legally and with safeguards

      So it's not illegal, so long as it's done legally.

  2. Serious crime by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    > UK 'Emergency' Bulk Data Slurp Permissible In Pursuit Of 'Serious Crime'

    Such as copyright infringement of downloading a movie or album...

    1. Re:Serious crime by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      > UK 'Emergency' Bulk Data Slurp Permissible In Pursuit Of 'Serious Crime'

      Such as copyright infringement of downloading a movie or album...

      Or pointing out the bad things that the people in power are doing.

    2. Re:Serious crime by rtb61 · · Score: 2

      News at 11, the big story here, everyone is missing, the UK government just killed the data cloud. How can anyone ever trust a data cloud company any more, that company could be searched and that means all the data that it holds exposed to government perusal. Basically the UK government is claiming that all letters and packages at a post office are examinable should a warrant be issued against, any employee at that post office. The only way to secure your data now is own you own servers in your safe room on your premises.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    3. Re: Serious crime by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      dont worry in 6 years about all cloud providers will have exited from uk anyways.

      along with all the money.

  3. Nice example of fascism from the EU justice court by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    Where are those imbeciles who used to say that we had to vote against Brexit 'cuz the EU protects our human rights betta?

  4. "Serious Crime" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Like wagging your finger at your kid's bully? The sort of ASBO tripe that passes for serious crime in the UK sets one hell of a low bar, and opens a wide door to abuse.

    1. Re:"Serious Crime" by ledow · · Score: 3, Informative

      http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/...

      "However, before the trial was set to start, a fresh charge was entered, to which Cooper pleaded guilty."

      Game over. Nobody convicted him but himself. It didn't even need a trial, it's automatic and then he's automatically punished. No judge stood there and THOUGHT that he was guilty. He admitted guilt from the very start of the trial.

      If you don't think that what you did overstepped the mark, you don't plead guilty, especially if you're a midwife whose career is on the line. And then you could appeal to the court based on the circumstances and might be FOUND guilty. But admitting it is NOTHING to do with courts being overly harsh. Someone says you committed an offence. It goes to court. You admit that you did. Game over. No evidence needs be heard.

      Chances are that he was way over the mark, knew it, and didn't mention that in any of his posts.

      Don't get your news, or your opinion of the justice system, from a one-sided, uninformed puff-piece from the media. Even the BBC.

    2. Re:"Serious Crime" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The new charge was for using threatening or abusive behaviour likely to cause alarm or distress.

      Funny, alarm and distress is exactly the appropriate state to induce in someone who has managed to bully others with no consequences.

      The evidence?

      Mr Lee Dacre, prosecuting, told the court that Cooper raised his voice to the child and jabbed his finger repeatedly at them.

      And the judge's conclusion?

      "However, this case has shown that there is no excuse to take the law into your own hands. Cumbria Police will take seriously any such offence and thoroughly investigate the full circumstances to ensure that justice is done.”

      So now yelling at a bully is taking the law into your own hands, only the police are permitted to reprimand a problematic individual.

    3. Re:"Serious Crime" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, wow. I've spent enough time in that area of the UK to know it's rough as hell. The amount of abuse required to end up before a court had to have been horrendous. I expect there's more to this than meets the eye.

    4. Re: "Serious Crime" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Evidently it no longer takes a village to raise a child. It takes a police state.

  5. Just like Batman by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...then Alfred quits.

  6. What safeguards? by HBI · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If the government does a mass data collection, the data will be used for purposes beyond that originally intended. Period. That is how governments work. Having spent the last 15 years of my life in the bowels of one of the largest governments in the world, I know whereof I speak.

    --
    HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
    1. Re:What safeguards? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where? Knowing one part of a thing doesn't mean you know anything about anywhere else, despite the personal delusions.

    2. Re:What safeguards? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Ireland was the test in the 1960-90's. The UK collected every domestic phone call and all calls in and out. The data was then used to track US sympathisers, funding and support networks.
      The data was never needed to be used in UK courts as it was acted on in other direct ways by the UK gov/mil. The fun part is now this the gov can collect the any bulk data that gets sorted by site accessed, credit card, ip, user details, isp and legally go to court with its logs and findings. Just protesting or questioning any gov or mil policy can always be construed as a serious crime to be tracked.
      No safeguards in the 1980's, none now.
      What is a 'Serious Crime'? Anything seen at any level by anyone, reported to an official who then has database access ... i.e. a digital search for any reason.
      Its a great idea for mil/gov contractor job creation if the people the UK is looking for can be expected to always use computers, talk a lot on phones.... and always stay digitally trackable.
      More funding to public/private sector mass digital collection jobs might make contractors happy but could have been better spent on tracking real people rather than just hoping all the people of interest use digital networks all the time.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    3. Re:What safeguards? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's not how governments work here, near the Baltic Shield. There is even a special court system for prosecuting government employees for such and any other kinds of offenses and incorrect behaviour.

  7. Also... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...justifying things in emergencies tends to cause the redefinition of emergency.

    America grants extra executive powers in emergency situations and that really only resulted in the country being declared to be in a state of perpetual emergency.

    IF X THEN EXTRA_POWERS
    X := TRUE

    Simplifies to
    EXTRA_POWERS

  8. Re:Nice example of fascism from the EU justice cou by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're a moron if you think the EU offered no protection whatsoever. None is exactly what additional protection we'll get from the EU after Brexit. And if you think Theresa May is going to improve the protections the UK has now, you're a fucking moron.

  9. Re:Nice example of fascism from the EU justice cou by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    'cuz the EU protects our human rights betta?

    Because it does. Why else would "Brexiter" Davis taking a case to the EU court? Because he knows that in the UK he has no chance of obtaining any protection of rights.

  10. An "emergency" is whatever they say it is, by jenningsthecat · · Score: 3, Informative

    and "serious crime" increasingly is equated with thoughtcrime. The definition of "legally" is fluid and arbitrary, and "safeguards" are totally unspecified and undefined; this renders both terms utterly meaningless in the context of TFA. "(L)aid down by proper legislative process" and "respect the essence of the right to respect for privacy and data protection" are weasel words and part of a snow job.

    Undefined, non-specific buzz-words are the perennially favourite tools of despots and would-be dictators. Unfortunately, today they are also the lingua franca of both political and legal discourse; and a befuddled populace, (with the help of news media which are largely complicit in the scam), goes along with it all as though it means something other than their eventual enslavement.

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
    1. Re:An "emergency" is whatever they say it is, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You claim that because you don't understand the power of UK common law. There is a rich history creating stronger legal protections than most of the US enjoys.

    2. Re:An "emergency" is whatever they say it is, by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      The UK threat level had never been below "substantial" in its history. Most of the time it's at "severe".

      In other words, they can take a big slurp any time they like, because terrorism.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:An "emergency" is whatever they say it is, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Which is why here in the UK I'm allowed to draw two figures engaged in sexual intercourse, yet if I add a speech bubble to one saying "hi, I'm 8 years old" then I am now guilty of child pornography. Reference.

      More reading. And here.

    4. Re:An "emergency" is whatever they say it is, by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 1

      Indeed. When I went to school, we used to learn a story about a boy and a wolf. It didn't end well for him, and one of my biggest concerns about the whole terrorism paranoia thing is that our governments are making exactly the same mistake.

      --
      If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
    5. Re:An "emergency" is whatever they say it is, by Plus1Entropy · · Score: 1

      Yeah, except the wolf eats all of us.

      --
      Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
  11. Re:Nice example of fascism from the EU justice cou by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Except that his claim was trashed. Which trashes your pro-EU talking point too. Have fun defending the EU human rights track record now.

  12. Re:Nice example of fascism from the EU justice cou by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A bad claim was trashed, but that doesn't mean the reason the court was selected were wrong. The reason it was selected is that if offered (past tense, now) more protection than UK courts.

  13. Safeguards by garlicbready · · Score: 1

    safeguards, I do not think that word means what you think it means

    1. Re:Safeguards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      +1

      It certainly does not mean you and me taking a look at what they are doing, just to be sure

  14. Re:Nice example of fascism from the EU justice cou by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A bad claim was ...

    That's just your unqualified opinion, and surely it wouldn't be agreed upon by any privacy advocates.

  15. Violation of the EU-Canada Data Treaty by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    Canadian citizens have a right to privacy when in the EU, which the UK is still a part of.

    This includes data slurps.

    And it's in the Constitution.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
    1. Re:Violation of the EU-Canada Data Treaty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The UK won't give a fuck.

      Did you know that the law is permitted to operate retroactively in the UK? Despite the fact that the UK is a signatory of the UN conventions which prohibits it?

  16. Re:Nice example of fascism from the EU justice cou by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 2

    None is exactly what additional protection we'll get from the EU after Brexit.

    Though we'll still be a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights, which is independent of the EU, has its own court, and does not have the associated political shenanigans the UK pulled in relation to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights that is at issue here.

    --
    If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
  17. Like this wasn't going to happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ladies and Gentlemen upon exiting the EU, please remember to collect all of your bags and leave your rights at the door.

  18. "Serious Crimes" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is this actually defined anywhere, or is it left to the opinion of the investigating officer?

  19. useless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Of course it all hangs on who's definition of a "serious crime"
    And like lots of other bs legislation,it will start off meaning one thing and then rapidly be subverted and a "serious crime" within a few years will mean a couple of 15 year old street weed dealers...
    Just like stingrays are only meant to be used for serious investigations here in the UK,but ordinary police forces have been caught using them to gather data and evidence against minor drug dealer groups,though the evidence collected through their use is rarely actually used in cases,because then they would give the game away that they using them for everyday situations,but they make such wonderful fishing tools that they just cannot resist using them,exactly the same as has been found in the USA and just about every other country that has them,proving once again that if there is any chance of a capability being designed,and built then it will quite soon be in common,if often,illegal use...
    Lots of us already knew this,more suspected it,snowden just goes confirm some of it..and he didn't know half of it...
    If someone can dream it up and others can build it,it's in use somewhere...
    If it cannot be done legally,no matterfolk will just lie about it or deny its existence...

  20. Merely opinion, NOT a RULING by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fuck the British press. Outfits like theregister -- positively for Brexit, previously (still?) -- have lost nearly any and all integrity.

    This is NOT a ruling, it is merely an opinion by an advisor to the court. Here's the document, which ofcourse El Reg couldn't even be bothered to link to. I'll be gracious to them, and assume they couldn't even be bothered to read it, either.

    First, this non-binding opinion isn't about the UK situation only -- it's a opinion on 2 merged cases, the most important one brought forward by a Swedish telecom provider Tele2/Sverige, which found itself in conflict with either Swedish law [enforcing data retention] or European law, after the European Court of Justice invalidated the Data Retention Directive in a 2014 ruling on a Digital Rights Ireland case.

    Second, the data to be retained are strictly defined in Saugmandsgaard opinion: data making it possible to identify and locate the source and the destination of the information, data relating to the date, time and duration of communication and data identifying the type of each communication and the type of equipment used.

    The content of the data is specifically excluded of the retention obligation.

    Note, finally, that retention of these data is not an EU obligation: the opinion only establishes that national governments may implement such a data retention, that this is not incompatible with other EU rulings. Solely the fight against serious crime is reason to implement such an obligation.

    Let me part with the final paragraph of that opinion:

    Finally, the general obligation to retain data must be proportionate, within a democratic society, to the objective of the fight against serious crime, which means that the serious risks engendered by that obligation within a democratic society must not be disproportionate to the advantages it offers in the fight against serious crime.

    1. Re:Merely opinion, NOT a RULING by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is NOT a ruling, it is merely an opinion by an advisor to the court.

      ... which most of the times is then followed by an equivalent EUJC ruling, as any human rights lawyer will confirm to you. You can count the disagreement cases with the fingers of your hands.

      The content of the data is specifically excluded of the retention obligation.

      The lawsuit is about the first two sections of a UK bill (the DRIP act) that discipline metadata retention only, not content. Hence this observation is useless. Same story about the need for "proportionality" in the data retention, which is basically a legally empty expression that anyone can interpret at will.

      If this story had come out before the referendum, it would have ended 60-40 rather than 52-48. The whole "human rights" talking point has just been wiped out, many Labour voters were against Brexit precisely because of it.

  21. Re:Nice example of fascism from the EU justice cou by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ooh look!

    A racist Brexiter. What a surprise.

  22. Re:Nice example of fascism from the EU justice cou by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ooh look!

    An immigrant remainer. What a surprise.

  23. O The Irony by Jahta · · Score: 1

    Of David Davis (a Brexiteer) taking a case to the European Court of Justice about violation of his privacy rights, as defined by the European Charter of Fundamental Rights; a document his new boss Theresa May (who opposed Brexit) has publicly said she would like to tear up.