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Earlier this month, we covered news about the new EU regulations designed to retain private user’s internet data, including information about sent emails and browsing history. This included the potential that all user data would be stored in a single, national database. This week Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has announced that this will not be the cause, but monitoring of telephone and internet services will continue as planned.
In the 10 year programme estimated to cost taxpayers up to £2bn, data will be stored at each individual ISP in a database which will be made accessible to authorities when needed. This solution is a response to the idea of having a single database with details from every single UK provider accessible at all times – a move that was turned down by Ms Smith this week for being too extreme a solution.
ISPs will be paid to log the websites a user visits and what time they’ve visited. A similar system will also log emails, detailing the date messages were sent as well as the IPs and location of the senders. Crucially, the actual content of the messages will not be logged, so we’re not yet at the point where the government can read individual emails or social networking messages.
Concerns over Online Privacy
Ms Smith commented that the move for ISPS to store single databases was made to “overcome…concerns about privacy”, despite the consultation paper backing the idea of one, national database as “most effective at delivering fast and efficient access in support of the law enforcement and intelligence agencies and emergency services, the least challenging technically to implement and the cheapest to build and run.”
Fighting Terrorism
The new laws have been put in place to monitor and fight criminal activity such as fraud and terrorism. A new generation of criminals are taking advantage of technology for the purposes of communication and anonymity.
Information Commissioner Richard Thomas commented on the new proposals: “It is welcome that the Government has stopped short of proposing the creation of a centralised database of these records.” He added: “There are still many matters of details that will require much closer examination.”
Ms Smith’s move has been welcomed by most privacy groups, although she also stated the dangers of having no such system in place at all: “We recognise there is a delicate balance between privacy and security, but to do nothing is not an option as we would be failing in our duty to protect the public”
The back down has prompted opposition parties to attack other areas where the government has proposed a high level of surveillance or database usage, such as the national ID card proposals.
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