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.

19 of 48 comments (clear)

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

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

  3. 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 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"
  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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 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
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
  7. 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.

  8. Safeguards by garlicbready · · Score: 1

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

  9. 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! --
  10. 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.
  11. Re: "Serious Crime" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

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

  12. 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.

  13. 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.