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back to article UK gov rushes through emergency law on data retention

Emergency law is expected within days to be pushed through Parliament that will force ISPs to retain customer data to allow spooks to continue to spy on Brits' internet and telephone activity, after existing powers were recently ruled invalid by the European Union's highest court. The planned legislation crucially has cross- …

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  1. phuzz Silver badge
    Alert

    They're supposed to work for you

    If you live in the UK, and you don't like the sound of this then go to https://www.writetothem.com/ put in your postcode, pick your MP, and write them a note giving them your opinion, as one of their constituents.

    You've got until next Monday.

    0 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: They're supposed to work for you

      What? And put myself on a watch list?

      3 0 Reply
      1. Roj Blake Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: They're supposed to work for you

        If you're a UK citizen, you're already on a watch list.

        4 0 Reply
  2. barstewardsquad
    Joke

    No problem here, move along please

    After all what could possibly go wrong when the Government rushes through legislation, especially in regards to technology matters?

    4 0 Reply
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Surveillance is not an end toward totalitarianism, it is totalitarianism itself.

    We begin therefore where they are determined not to end, with the question whether any form of democratic self-government, anywhere, is consistent with the kind of massive, pervasive, surveillance into which the Unites States government has led not only us but the world.

    This should not actually be a complicated inquiry.

    http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/27/-sp-privacy-under-attack-nsa-files-revealed-new-threats-democracy

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/europe-24385999

    6 0 Reply
  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Episode 1: The Phantom Terrorist

    .Net Gunray: "My lord! Is that... legal?"

    Teresa Palpamay: "I will MAKE it legal..."

    .Net Gunray: "And the European Court of Human Rights?"

    Teresa Palpamay: "The Chancellor should never have brought them into this! Veto them immediately!"

    .Net Gunray: "Yes...yes, my lord. As you wish."

    1 0 Reply
    1. cortland
      Reply Icon

      Blackadder, right?

      Hmm. Why am I thinking, "I have a cunning plan!"?

      0 0 Reply
  5. ElNumbre
    Mushroom

    War of the Databases

    "No-one would have believed in the early years of the 21st century that human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of cyberspace. No-one could have dreamed that we were being scrutinized, as someone with a microscope studies creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. Few men even considered the possibility of an interest in their lives by people off this planet. And yet, across the gulf of cyberspace, minds immeasurably more vacuous to ours regarded this data with envious eyes, and slowly and surely, they drew their plans against us…”

    11 0 Reply
    1. stu 4
      Reply Icon

      Re: War of the Databases

      da da da

      da da daaaaaa

      da da da

      daa daa daa

      da da

      da da

      da da da da da da

      2 0 Reply
  6. Alan J. Wylie

    Good to see that Julian Huppert has been involved

    Julian Huppert, one of the most technologically clueful MPs, was involved in draughting the bill.

    http://www.libdemvoice.org/julian-huppert-this-is-not-snoopers-charter-its-what-we-had-already-

    plus-additional-safeguards-41464.html

    1 0 Reply
  7. batfastad

    Vote?

    So did anyone vote for this?

    Ah, golf club democracy dear boy.

    2 0 Reply
    1. Intractable Potsherd
      Reply Icon

      Re: Vote?

      It requires a golf club to teach these asshats what democracy means.

      2 0 Reply
  8. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    the EU

    Step-bystep I am being dragged (unwillingly) to the conclusion that we get more civil liberty protection as a result of the EU & its courts than we do from our own parliament and its courts.One reason to ignore UKIP and its cohorts.

    15 1 Reply
  9. jay_bea

    Mandatory Reference to 1984

    "It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live— did live, from habit that became instinct— in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized." George Orwell, 1984.

    Of course, now we have mobile phones, so it does not matter whether it is dark.

    5 0 Reply
  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Definition of an ISP?

    I don't think I've ever seen an actual definition of an 'ISP' anywhere for this law or the previous guff. Can someone please point me at one?

    I mean, they are supposedly collecting 'communication information'. So who collects that? I run a network and I certainly don't. What about colocation centres? Do they need to? What if you set up peering with with a number of international telcos, do they have responsibility to record the info? My laptop is 4 hops form LINX. I'm pretty sure no-one between me an LINX is collecting this data as far as I'm aware.

    0 0 Reply
  11. JimmyPage Silver badge
    Flame

    And once again ... signal to noise

    none of our MPs have the faintest idea of the concept of signal to noise. What people should really be concerned about is by building up these <however many> petabytes a DAY, our security services are simply never going to find the real smoking gun. They may find loads of things which look like a smoking gun. But by the time they've realised it isn't (with a very negative outcome for the innocent who has been detained without trial for 28 days, lost their job, home, reputation, and has no redress from a state which will charge him for his rent and board whilst incarcerated) the real terrorists. The ones we *should* be scared of, will be skipping into the sunset, having bypassed all these measures by (a) faxing each other in Arabic, or (b) used VPNs and TOR where sensible.

    1 1 Reply
  12. David 45

    P*ss*d off with politicians

    When will these clowns learn that they are supposed to be in office to serve us, the people and not the other way round? They seem to merrily go about their own agendas without so much as a by-your-leave or a nod to Joe public who might just possibly want some sort of say in what's happening to the country and where the taxes are being spent. I have no faith in the b*gg*rs whatsoever, having had a load of boiler plate waffle come back to me on the only two occasions I have contacted my MP on issues that I felt were important. Nest-featherers all, methinks, not to mention this paranoia about terrorists, who would probably use some sort of closed communication system or encryption anyway. It's just an excuse to spy on the populace at large for anything that the government doesn't like.

    2 1 Reply

  13. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Re. P*ss*d off with politicians

      Oh dear. I think we have what is known as a "devil's advocate" amongst us - more commonly known as a troll. You are obviously in full agreement then with the commonly quoted myth that if you're doing nothing wrong, then you've nothing to fear from all these draconian measures. I take it that you are also more than happy with the idea of every personal aspect of your life being recorded, just "because they can" and presumably equally glib with the premise of every shred of privacy being stripped away by these marauding spooks, politicians and spies. The line has to be drawn somewhere. Things have already gone way too far and I despair. I believe we're all living on the same planet. Are the politicians who conjure up these lunatic schemes also happy being spied on (because they sure as hell are) by the likes of NSA and GCHQ? Does nobody have any control over these mavericks?

      0 1 Reply

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

  14. batfastad

    Rendition

    Get rendered to diego garcia, they "lose" the records quickly enough then.

    1 0 Reply
  15. Roj Blake Silver badge

    This would be more acceptable if...

    The general public was allowed to see the phone, email and web metadata of all MPs, all police officers above the rank of Superintendent and all GCHQ, MI5 and MI6 officers.

    If they can see our stuff, we should be able to see theirs.

    5 0 Reply
  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Never fear

    Never fear, the newer Google Glass head-set is here, soon you too can be brain-washed into saying, "Ok Google, Ok Google, Ok Google..!" instead of "No Google or Get lost Google!" and the best bit, it even read's your mind for you.. So soon you wont have a single private thought left in your head! The future is clearly now where soon you'll be just arrested by the thought police for simply having had the thought that the PM is a gormless twatter! As to them targetting Linux users as extremists, that would include there own Police force who use it for there Forensics investigations... Marvelous!

    0 0 Reply
  17. Richard 45
    Black Helicopters

    Looks like it's about time to grow onions at Glastonbury.

    0 0 Reply
  18. SeanEllis
    Stop

    Clause 4 and 5

    Seem to immediately and widely extend existing powers, not just ensure them. This is not suitable to be included in an emergency bill with no oversight.

    1 0 Reply
  19. cortland

    Here you are

    On write only media, too.

    http://img8.uploadhouse.com/fileuploads/15754/15754398626c257c6149a40fe7b70efc1a6917df.jpg

    0 0 Reply

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