Tuesday, 20 May 2008
All must have databases!
What fresh lunacy is this?
A massive government database holding details of every phone call, e-mail and time spent on the internet by the public is being planned as part of the fight against crime and terrorism. Internet service providers (ISPs) and telecoms companies would hand over the records to the Home Office under plans put forward by officials.
The information would be held for at least 12 months and the police and security services would be able to access it if given permission from the courts.
It's enough to make you weep with despair. Every phone call, every email, every text message? From everyone? Under what justification? What possible right does the government have to set up a database detailing my private phone calls and messages? What mandate?
As insane as it sounds, though, this is not actually a massive regression from the current situation. No, it's pretty bad already:
Since last October telecoms companies have been required to keep records of phone calls and text messages for 12 months. That requirement is to be extended to internet, e-mail and voice-over-internet use and included in a Communications Data Bill. Police and the security services can access the records with a warrant issued by the courts.
And watch the velvety-smooth justification advanced by the bureaucrats at the Home Office - something of a classic of its kind:
Rather than individual companies holding the information, Home Office officials are suggesting the records be handed over to the Government and stored on a huge database. One of the arguments being put forward in favour of the plan is that it would make it simpler and swifter for law enforcement agencies to retrieve the information instead of having to approach hundreds of service providers.
It would make it simpler and swifter. Do you see? Who could be against that? Who would want law enforcement to be complex and slow? Only the terrorists, presumably. Thus are painted as "enemies of progress" those of us who cleave to the old-fashioned view that who we phone is none of the government's fucking business. What Luddites we are!
The default recourse of libertarian bloggers in this situation is to starting throwing around phrases like "Big Brother" and "1984", which leads to much mockery from opponents. But when the government are handing out tinfoil to everyone, along with detailed instructions on how to fold it, who can be surprised if some of us end up making it into hats and putting it on our heads? The adjective "Orwellian" is one of the most overused, and misused, in blogworld. If it is not justified here, though, then we would be better off to retire it altogether.
Where's the outrage? Where's the cold fury at the shocking erosion of our privacy that these bastards are waving through in the name of national security and the "fight against crime"? If civil liberties considerations don't sway you, aren't you at least concerned that they're pissing billions of pounds of your money up against a wall? A database of every text message in the land? I mean, what?
Really, what are we to make of this?
- A national ID database
- A national DNA database
- A national children's database (complete with extra-secure VIP area for Romeo and Brooklyn)
- A national vehicle journey database (linked in to numberplate recognition technology to provide a total record of every car journey in the country)
- And now a national phone, email and text message database, detailing every private communication you have made over the last 12 months.
No doubt I've forgotten a few, too. Wouldn't it just be simpler and swifter to combine all these into one big super-database? Why not? I trust them. Don't you?
Labels: Civil liberties, Nu Lab
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As always in totalitarian States (such as today's Britain) the way these moves are brought in is by using the excuse of protecting the public from the real "bad guys". It's a standard enough technique, and has worked well many times in the past, so no real surprise here.
How to protect the public against the "bad guys" in Government -- well, that's a whole 'nuther question!
I don't know the answer, short of revolution (which I do NOT favour!) and all I can offer is to hold out until the next General Election, meanwhile doing one's best to get a firm and unequivocal commitment from the most likely successor party to a complete scrapping of this whole idea, immediately upon their coming to power.
How to protect the public against the "bad guys" in Government -- well, that's a whole 'nuther question!
I don't know the answer, short of revolution (which I do NOT favour!) and all I can offer is to hold out until the next General Election, meanwhile doing one's best to get a firm and unequivocal commitment from the most likely successor party to a complete scrapping of this whole idea, immediately upon their coming to power.
I hope Mr Blair was cremated, cos if he wasn't he'll be spinning like a bloody gyro now.
In case you think I'm indulging in wistful hindsight, I refer not to Anthony Charlie, nor Ian, but dear old Orwell.
Of course, in dear old George's febrile mind, the statism worked.
With this lot, it will only work in reverse. They won't find the solution to the crime in their database, they'll search the database until they find a crime.
In case you think I'm indulging in wistful hindsight, I refer not to Anthony Charlie, nor Ian, but dear old Orwell.
Of course, in dear old George's febrile mind, the statism worked.
With this lot, it will only work in reverse. They won't find the solution to the crime in their database, they'll search the database until they find a crime.
God forbid criminals start using the postal service....
RS
... or using pay-as-you-go mobile phones, discarded after a short spell of use; or cars with false number plates; or sending e-mails from internet cafes or by 'stealing' someone else's unsecured broadband access; or any other easy ruse that would avoid the criminals' being caught by this pointless, repellent scheme.
I hate to say it, after the abuse of the once-peerless civil service by Bliar and Campbell, but it may be time to start drawing up a list of collaborators in the Vichy civil service - those who have fallen into NuLab ways and are actively producing this kind of crap for Ministers, rather than living up to the finest traditions of Sir Humphrey and kicking such illiberal and unworkable nonsense deftly into the long grass. They can then be culled after the next general election, with a choice of going to work for Labour in opposition or as policy wonks for the Burmese junta.
RS
... or using pay-as-you-go mobile phones, discarded after a short spell of use; or cars with false number plates; or sending e-mails from internet cafes or by 'stealing' someone else's unsecured broadband access; or any other easy ruse that would avoid the criminals' being caught by this pointless, repellent scheme.
I hate to say it, after the abuse of the once-peerless civil service by Bliar and Campbell, but it may be time to start drawing up a list of collaborators in the Vichy civil service - those who have fallen into NuLab ways and are actively producing this kind of crap for Ministers, rather than living up to the finest traditions of Sir Humphrey and kicking such illiberal and unworkable nonsense deftly into the long grass. They can then be culled after the next general election, with a choice of going to work for Labour in opposition or as policy wonks for the Burmese junta.
OK, let's say you're a naughty fellow who wishes to communicate with other nefarious sorts over the old blower without Mr Plod knowing what you're up to.
So get a VOIP phone (a base model Cisco 79xx series goes for about $50 on eBay), a BSD or Linux server and the same again for the other end. Set up a VPN (any PFY worth his salt can do this). Now you can talk in private and there is not a damn thing your ISP or the fuzz can do about it, short of banning end-to-end encryption. With a bit of jiggery pokery there's no way they can even tell if you're making a call, as all you need is a little daemon to send data back and forth when the VOIP connection is idle. All cats (encrypted packets) look grey in the dark, so it stuffs their traffic analysis up.
For the rest of the net, there's anonymisers like Tor, remailers like MixMaster and so on.
God what a lot of fucking numpties we have ruling us.
So get a VOIP phone (a base model Cisco 79xx series goes for about $50 on eBay), a BSD or Linux server and the same again for the other end. Set up a VPN (any PFY worth his salt can do this). Now you can talk in private and there is not a damn thing your ISP or the fuzz can do about it, short of banning end-to-end encryption. With a bit of jiggery pokery there's no way they can even tell if you're making a call, as all you need is a little daemon to send data back and forth when the VOIP connection is idle. All cats (encrypted packets) look grey in the dark, so it stuffs their traffic analysis up.
For the rest of the net, there's anonymisers like Tor, remailers like MixMaster and so on.
God what a lot of fucking numpties we have ruling us.
This database approach doesn't protect anyone from 'terrorism' because the real bad boys don't use electronic media or modern banks. They use couriers and non mainstream banking methods.
By successfully forcing governments into adopting draconian and repressive measures The 'terrorists' are actually winning.
By successfully forcing governments into adopting draconian and repressive measures The 'terrorists' are actually winning.
And what do we hear from the Conservatives and Lib Dems on this issue? Nothing. Why? Because the government will throw the they-want-to-stop-us-fighting-terrorism line at them.
Maybe we should all get PGP, then spend a couple of hours a day sending encrypted excerpts from the Riga telephone directory to all and sundry...
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