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The police need help, but they're frightened to ask

reposter | 28.02.2009 18:25 | Indymedia Server Seizure | Repression | Technology | Sheffield | South Coast

The article below taken from the Torygraph demonstrates the justifications the police aim to use in order to back moves to give them full access to all digital communications and insist on full data retention. This obviously has relevance to the recent indymedia server seizure and the arrest that followed.

Sorry, Jack Straw, but even the cops think you're tainted with the Big Brother brush, writes Alasdair Palmer.

Last Updated: 5:22PM GMT 28 Feb 2009
'This Labour government has done more than any before it to extend liberties and constrain government." Well, Jack Straw, the Justice Minister, believes it, or at least said it. Millions of British voters have a rather different picture of the last decade of Labour government. They see a succession of extensions of state powers, justified by the need to combat terrorism, but used by local authorities to check that householders are recycling correctly or not cheating on their application to get their children into a good school.
Mr Straw is right in one sense, however. The European Convention on Human Rights, which Labour formally incorporated into British law, is a constraint on government, and it specifies a number of fundamental liberties which must be maintained. That, of course, is precisely why some Labour ministers now want to find ways round it, and why Tony Blair, when he was prime minister, said that Britain might have to opt out of it.
Furthermore, Labour's biggest extension of the state's power has yet to be made law: identity cards are still a proposal rather than a reality, and they may never actually make it beyond aspiration, not least because of the billions that it will cost to introduce them, money which the Government does not have. It has given it all to the banks.
Labour ministers have unquestionably shown themselves willing to restrict liberty in order to achieve what is claimed to be a gain in security – and it is not necessarily the wrong choice to make. It can be right to give up some liberties in order to diminish our chances of being the victim of a terrorist bomb. We all accept that it is reasonable to allow the authorities to search our bags before we board a plane, for example. The trouble for the Government as it seeks to enlist support for its new schemes – to enable officials to monitor your use of the internet, for example – is that the debate has been poisoned by blatantly unnecessary extensions of surveillance powers. It is now almost impossible for any measure that will increase state power to be introduced without people thinking that it is part of a vast conspiracy by the Government to turn Britain into a version of Orwell's Big Brother state.
That places the police in a quandary. Because leading policemen such as Sir Ian Blair, the former commissioner of the Met, allowed themselves to be recruited by the Government in its drive to advertise the merits of ID cards, the police have come to be seen as on the side of Big Brother. They insist that they are not. They say they are simply desperately concerned that unless they get powers to monitor internet use and traffic, they will be deprived of a fundamental tool they need if they are to be able to fight crime effectively.
Here's their argument. At the heart of every prosecution against organised criminals, against fraudsters, and against terrorists, is evidence of a conspiracy: proof that the men in the dock were linked, and they talked together before the crime was committed in order to organise it. At present, most criminals talk to each other on either land-lines or mobile phones. The phone companies keep records, so the police, once they know the phone numbers the criminals use, can obtain them and thus the evidence that the bad guys were plotting together. This doesn't necessarily require them to listen to the conversations: sometimes just the evidence of time and location is enough.
The problem is that criminals are increasingly switching the kind of telecommunications networks they use. Many of them now use the internet and the free services available on it, such as Skype. The companies that provide those services do not keep records: why should they? They give the service away free, and record-keeping is expensive. But for the police that spells disaster. "I'm not kidding you," one high-ranking officer told me. "If we don't get the ability to monitor those services, our ability to track criminal conspiracies will be destroyed."
So keen are the police to be able to track internet calls, they're willing to pay the service providers to keep records. "We accept that there's a cost to it, one which private companies may not be willing to pay. We're willing to help," the same officer explained to me. He insists that the new power they want to track internet use will actually do no more than enable them to keep up with technological change – but the police dare not plead for it in public. "It'll be counter-productive," the officer stated. "People will lump it in with ID cards and the rest, and just think we're part of a government conspiracy. But this is a basic necessity, and if we don't get it, we'll be unable to gain vital evidence against thousands of criminals."
It is a testament to how widely the Government is perceived as opposed to civil liberties that the police now don't think they can argue openly for the new monitoring power they need. Sorry Jack – but even the cops think you're tainted with the Big Brother brush. It may mean that the police will lose the power to crack criminal conspiracies. And that really will place us all in greater danger.

reposter

Comments

Hide the following 4 comments

Horrors!

28.02.2009 19:12

"it may mean that the police will lose the power to crack criminal conspiracies. And that really will place us all in greater danger."

From the likes of Jack Straw and his shadowy Bilderberg handlers.

Aesop comes to mind - "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." and the police seem powerless to do anything about it. What's the Serious Fraud Squad up to? Westminster and the Square Mile are awash in fraud! Arrest the Banksters and leave outraged citizens alone, purleese officer?

Search for "Abolition of Freedom Act 2009"

JG


skype

28.02.2009 19:20

the article states that skype doesn't keep records - mmm, not so sure about that! read their terms of service - relevant bits posted below - especially 2a, 2c, 2g (!!!), 2h, and 2i.

2. WHAT INFORMATION DOES SKYPE COLLECT?

Skype may gather and process information about you, including (but not limited to) information in the following categories:

(a) Identification data (name, address, telephone, email address etc.);

(b) Profile information (e.g. age, sex, country of residence etc.) (THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE YOUR USER PROFILE – please see article 6 of this Privacy Statement);

(c) Electronic identification data (addresses IP, cookies, etc.);

(d) Banking and payment information (credit card information, account number, etc.);

(e) Survey result and usage information;

(f) Products or services ordered and delivered;

(g) Video and sound recordings;

(h) List of your contacts;

(i) Traffic data (data processed for the purpose of the conveyance of communications or the billing thereof, including, but not limited to, the duration of the call, the number calling and the number called, etc.).

3. HOW DOES SKYPE USE THIS INFORMATION AND FOR WHAT PURPOSE?

Our primary purpose in collecting information is to provide you with a safe, smooth, efficient, and customized experience. Skype collects and processes, or has third party service providers acting on Skype’s behalf collecting and processing, personal data relating to you, as permitted or necessary to:

• compare information for accuracy;

verify your identity;

4. TO WHOM DOES SKYPE TRANSFER YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

Except as provided below, Skype shall not sell, rent, trade or otherwise transfer any personal and/or traffic data or communications content to any third party without your explicit permission, unless it is obliged to do so under applicable laws or by order of the competent authorities.

Please be informed that, notwithstanding the abovementioned, in the event of a designated authority lawfully requesting Skype or Skype’s local partner to retain and provide personal data, communications content and/or traffic data, Skype and/or its local partner will provide all reasonable assistance and information to fulfil this request.

Your information may be stored and processed in any country in which Skype and the Skype group maintain facilities, including outside of the EU. In this regard, or for purposes of sharing or disclosing data in accordance with this article 4, Skype reserves the right to transfer information outside of your country. By using Skype software, Skype’s websites or Skype products you consent to any such transfer of information outside of your country.

12. HOW LONG IS YOUR PERSONAL DATA KEPT BY SKYPE?

Skype and, where relevant, the Skype group entities will retain your information for as long as is necessary to: (1) fulfil any of the Purposes (as defined in article 3 of this Privacy Statement) or (2) comply with applicable legislation, regulatory requests and relevant orders from competent courts.

rikki
mail e-mail: rikkiindymedia[AT]gmail(d0t)com
- Homepage: http://www.socpa-movie.blogspot.com


'reality' check, fool

01.03.2009 10:40

'identity cards are still a proposal rather than a reality' - sorry mate, they're a bloody reality for those who are applying for visa extensions or limited leave to remain, and are most likely in the pipes for those applying for residency.

jacky


my advice:don't trust Skype

01.03.2009 21:12

My advice is for people not to trust Skype if they need privacy.

Skype is great for free phone calls between computers, but because the "source code" it is written in isn't available for public inspection, you can never be sure it hasn't got any back doors in.

And even if it hasn't got a back door today, the authorities could easily threaten some criminal charges (or worse) to the people who run Skype and get them to roll out an upgraded version that is compromised. You think they would care about our anonymity if they are facing a long prison sentence or even an assassin's bullet?

If you want private communication that no external party can snoop on, I would recommend you use the program Pidgin ( http://www.pidgin.im/), with the plugin OTR - Off The Record ( http://www.cypherpunks.ca/otr/).

They are both free and very easy to install and set up.

This will only do text-based instant messaging, using many different networks such as MSN, Yahoo, AIM, GoogleTalk, etc. But then voice-based communication is less secure anyway, since it could be more easily picked up by a bugging device like a telephone.

g33k


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