This email is being monitored by your government ...

PP Tony | 09.01.2009 19:27 | Repression | Technology

... or it will be from the 15th of March 2009.

What is happening then?

From that date forth your ISP (Internet Service Provider) will
by law have to keep a copy of the address of every email you send and
receive (Including any junk mail your receive offering you pills,
potions and other services!) and it is estimated it will cost the
government in the region of 15-25 Million pounds per year (How many
teachers, nurses etc could that fund?)

How do I know this is true and not some hoax?

Here is a link to the BBC web page story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7819230.stm

What can I do about it?

1. There is a petition to sign demanding that the government
stop this.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/GCHQinvasion/

However you might not wish to sign a petition administered by the very government that is planning this! What a good way for them to find out who doesn't like their plans for whatever reason!!!

What's next?

Reports have suggested the government has even bigger plans for
data retention.

They could involve one central database, gathering details on every
text sent, e-mail sent, phone call made and website visited.

Do you want this?

If not then start spreading the word about what your
government is doing and help retain the freedoms we currently enjoy in
this country (We've seen this kind of control in governments elsewhere
like China, Russia etc)

-----------------------------------------

And if you thought email retention was bad enough, according to The Times "The Home Office has quietly adopted a new plan to allow police across Britain routinely to hack into people’s personal computers without a warrant".

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5439604.ece

discussed at

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/01/417237.html

and

"Ministers are considering spending up to £12 billion on a database to monitor and store the internet browsing habits, e-mail and telephone records of everyone in Britain"

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4882600.ece

Of course the bottom line is that this has being going on for years through US/UK spy bases like Menwith Hill, so assume that every phone call and email message can heard/read by anyone and act accordingly (eg by not receiving emails from mailing lists like this one!)

However if paranoia stops anyone acting for positive social change, hey job done and the government can relax!

-----------------------------------------

If you know of campaigns that can realistically challenge all this nonsense then post details here.

There is already a discussion on computer/data security at

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/01/417237.html

And see "Privacy, Email and Activism - a brief intro" at

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/12/358431.html

PP Tony

Comments

Hide 1 hidden comment or hide all comments

Hidden Comment

This posting has been hidden because it breaches the Indymedia UK (IMC UK) Editorial Guidelines.

IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

unlikely

09.01.2009 21:23

I don't believe the government is competent enough to manager the contractors who will be paid to make this database. Virtually every massive computer system they make is a disaster.

scope

Cyberspace and Robocop.

10.01.2009 19:22

The reality is that Plod has been getting into anything and everything for some years now. Forget the Data Protection Act, it is something of a bad joke, totally meaningless for all the state organisations who want information on you and what you are up to.

May I suggest that signing a petition is a wate of time and space. This lot demand and deserve more positive direct action. Hactivism anyone?

Hackitivist

use anonymous methods of online communication

10.01.2009 19:50

If they start mass surveillance of email, start using anonymous methods of online communication. Already we can assume activists' email is monitored, and not just the addresses - the content too.

PGP is good for hiding the content of the email from government snoops, but it doesn't disguise the source and recipient of the message.

For anonymous communication, look into:

Mixmaster - anonymous email

http://mixmaster.sourceforge.net/
Tor - can be used to anonymize things like Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

http://www.torproject.org/
Freenet - has anonymous forums and email-like system

http://freenetproject.org/

This increase in government surveillance will probably result in an increase in development of these tools to make them more user-friendly and widespread.

g33k