UK Pushes Ahead With Surveillance Plan

The arrival of Big Brother in the UK moved one step closer today when the Home Office said it would push ahead with controversial plans to monitor all internet use.

The Ministry said it will ask communications firms to monitor all internet use, including asking them to retain information on how people use social networks such as Facebook.

At the moment, the security services and the police have the power to intercept communications in the interests of combating crime or threats to national security. However, the Home Office is looking to change the law in order to compel communication service providers (CSPs) to collect and retain records of communications (but not its contents) from a wide range of Internet sources, including email, social networks, chatrooms, and unorthodox methods such as within online games.

The Government insists that it only wants the records in case the user goes on to commit a crime, and then the authorities can check on what the suspect has been involved with. It insists there is no plans to create a single database.

During a consultation process, the Home Office admitted that some 90 respondents out of 221 were opposed to any enhancement of surveillance powers.

“Communications data is crucial to the fight against crime and in keeping people safe. It is a highly technical area and one which demands a fine balance between privacy and maintaining the capabilities of the police and security services,” Home Office minister David Hanson is reported as saying.

“The consultation showed widespread recognition of the importance of communications data in protecting the public and an appreciation of the challenges which rapidly changing technology poses,” he added. “We will now work with communications service providers and others to develop these proposals, and aim to introduce necessary legislation as soon as possible.”

At the moment it is not known how long the CSPs would be expected to store the data. The CSPs themselves are known to be reluctant, as it would be a tricky technical task to implement. Indeed, it is estimated that implementing the technology would cost them in the region of £2 billion over a ten year period. There is also no indication of any compensation for the CSPs to offset those costs, so it is likely customers will be asked to pick up the bill.

Of course, this might all be a moot point considering that the Conservative party, which is likely to win the next general election, has already pledged to increase privacy protection and cut back on government databases.