John Armitage on Tue, 11 Jun 2002 15:54:02 +0200 (CEST) |
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<nettime> UK Government sweeps aside privacy rights |
[And this from a government that promised us a Freedom of Information Act. Remember that? Same old story: out of power, freedom of information act promised; in power, freedom of information act denied. John.] ---------------------------------------------- Government sweeps aside privacy rights http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,731051,00.html Privacy rights swept aside Stuart Millar, technology correspondent Tuesday June 11, 2002 The Guardian Ministers were last night accused of conducting a systematic campaign to undermine the right to privacy as it emerged that a host of government departments, local councils and quangos are to be given the power to demand the communications records of every British telephone and internet user. A draft order to be debated by MPs next Tuesday reveals that ministers want the list of organisations empowered to demand communications data to be expanded to include seven Whitehall departments, every local authority in the country, NHS bodies in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and 11 other public bodies ranging from the postal services commission to the food standards agency. Until now, the list included only police forces, the intelligence services, customs and excise and the inland revenue. Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, passed two years ago, each of these authorities will be able, with out a court order, to demand that phone companies, internet service providers and postal operators hand over detailed information on individuals such as their name and address, phone calls made and received, source and destination of emails, the identity of websites visited and mobile phone location data, which is capable of revealing the user's whereabouts at any given time and is accurate to within a few hundred metres. Ministers have yet to reveal which level of official from the latest list of authorities will be able to authorise a notice demanding data under section 22 of the act. For the police, any officer of superintendent rank or above can demand an individual's records without a court order. The Home Office insists that the powers, which will come into force in August if passed, are necessary to fight terrorism and crime in an age when communications increasingly take place via email or mobile phone. But last night civil liberties groups cited the expanded list of authorities as fresh evidence of the need for new measures to protect the right to privacy. Ian Brown, director of the Foundation for Information Policy Research, an internet thinktank, said: "I am appalled at this huge increase in the scope of government snooping. Two years ago, we were deeply concerned that these powers were to be given to the police without any judicial oversight. Now they're handing them out to a practically endless queue of bureaucrats in Whitehall and town halls." John Wadham, director of Liberty, said: "This list demonstrates an issue that many people may not have realised: it is not just the police who will be looking at our communications records, it is practically every public servant who will be able to play this game." Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, said: "The Home Office has absolutely breached its commitment that this law would not become a general surveillance power for the government. The exhaustive list of organisations who will be able to access data without a court order proves that this amounts to a systematic attack on the right to privacy." The draft order has also raised concerns that it might undermine investigative journalism. Editors are worried that the identities of sources may become impossible to protect. Bob Satchwell, director of the Society of Editors, said: "The more we widen these powers and the further we take them away from any judicial oversight, the propensity becomes much greater for people to misuse them to find out where a journalist is getting material for a critical story. It would be different if the authorities had to go to court to get this information because editors would trust a senior judge to take into account the public interest of investigative journalism." The row comes amid public concern over the threat to individual privacy posed by communications data retention. The Guardian recently revealed that the European parliament had overturned a decade of data protection legislation and approved measures giving member states the power to force phone and internet companies to retain the detailed communications logs of each of their customers for an unspecified period. The Guardian also revealed last November that access to communications data would not be restricted to anti-terrorist investigations, despite apparent assurances to the contrary by David Blunkett, the home secretary. Officials from the empowered authorities will be able to access data under any of the broad range of grounds under which data can be obtained under the act. These include safeguarding national security, preventing or detecting crime, protecting public health and safety, collecting tax, and for any other purpose specified in an order by the home secretary. The measures have also caused consternation among internet service providers. Steve Rawlinson, chief technical officer of Claranet, which has about 500,000 customers in Britain, said: "We deal with a lot of requests from the police at the moment and quite often we have to tell them we are not satisfied that they have sufficient grounds, that they are on a fishing expedition. At the moment, we can tell them to go and get a court order, but when this legislation comes into force, we will have no choice but to hand over the data." The Home Office said: "Very broadly, all the bodies on the draft order have powers related to preventing crime. The aim is to bring them under the tighter regulatory framework of the RIP act." Who can track your messages Government departments Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Department of Health Home Office Department of Trade and Industry Department of Transport Department for Work and Pensions Northern Ireland executive's Department of Enterprise Local authorities Any local authority in England and Wales Any fire authority Any council in Scotland Any district council in Northern Ireland NHS bodies in Scotland and Northern Ireland The common services agency of the Scottish health service The Northern Ireland central services agency for health and social services Other bodies Environment agency Financial services authority Food standards agency Health and safety executive Information commissioner Office of fair trading Postal services commission Scottish drug enforcement agency Scottish environment protection agency The UK atomic energy authority constabulary A universal service provider covered by Postal Services Act # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net