17th October 2003. It questions the legality of Home Office plans to snoop on the phone and Internet activity of the UK population.<\/p>\n
Privacy International reports:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Opinion, which relates to the EU framework directive on the retention of communications data, has ramifications for ten EU states that have implemented, or are planning to implement, measures to place communications users under blanket surveillance. The UK is in the early stages of implementing such measures.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Opinion, provided by a prominent global law firm, has unequivocally concluded that the government\u2019s plans would be unlawful.<\/p>\n
The Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) maintains its recommendation to ISPs that they do not subscribe to the voluntary code of practice under the Home Office\u2019s data retention proposals.<\/p>\n
Read ISPA\u2019s concerns:<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.ispa.org.uk\/html\/media\/RIPA&ATCSA170903.html<\/a><\/p>\n Meeting, organised by PI and FIPR (Foundation for Information Policy Research): \u2018Scrambling for Safety 7\u2019, on October 22nd.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.privacyinternational.org\/conference\/sfs7\/<\/a><\/p>\n The meeting aimed to address a number of key issues:<\/p>\n \uf0b7 Has the Home Office addressed any of the concerns expressed by the public last year?<\/p>\n \uf0b7 How much remains to be fixed? Are the Statutory Instruments a useful way forward? What further legislation might be required?<\/p>\n \uf0b7 How will government agencies use their new powers?<\/p>\n \uf0b7 Is it appropriate to use emergency powers to impose surveillance requirements on ISPs and phone companies?<\/p>\n \uf0b7 Are the government\u2019s proposals legal under the Human Rights Act?<\/p>\n Prior to the meeting, GreenNet had decided not to participate in the voluntary retention as we remain deeply concerned that the voluntary code laid before parliament is not compliant with data protection principles and Human Rights standards. It was therefore interesting to note that other Communication Service Providers (CSPs) had grave reservations about the voluntary code, yet the government has not carried out any survey of the potential take-up of the code amongst CSPs before proposing it.<\/p>\n Discussions highlighted the main concerns that CSPs have about a voluntary code of conduct:<\/p>\n \uf0b7 it doesn\u2019t give legal authority to retain the data. Although the<\/p>\n Secretary of State will write a letter giving his support to the voluntary code, service providers (SPs) don\u2019t have legal protection.<\/p>\n \uf0b7 it is not legislated for because it may be in breach of Human Rights<\/p>\n (as detailed above)<\/p>\n \uf0b7 the cost of storage and retrieval systems. The voluntary code of data retention is asking that CSPs retain data for up to one year. Currently GreenNet stores the majority of user data for 7 days.<\/p>\n At the meeting, a representative from Intellect, the association for the UK IT, telecommunications and electronics industries, stated that the code puts businesses in an uncomfortable position whereby the liability and cost are shifted to the industry and alongside this, they run they risk of abusing customer trust at a time when the public at large are increasingly concerned about what personal information is stored.<\/p>\n Read their latest press release on the issue here:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.intellectuk.org\/press\/pr\/press_release_22_09_03.asp<\/a><\/p>\n To date, it appears that a voluntary code would be implemented in breach of Human Rights and in an effort to cut costs. The legality of the code will be addressed at a further meeting as there was too much to go into detail about at the meeting on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Visit the PI site for updates. Simon Davies of Privacy International can be reached for comment on 07958 466 552.<\/p>\n In the meantime, GreenNet calls on other UK ISPs not to subscribe to the voluntary code of practice under the Home Office\u2019s data retention proposals. This is in line with with ISPA\u2019s (Internet Service Providers Association) recommendations.<\/p>\n Read the GreenNet user and data retention policy:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.gn.apc.org\/userpolicy.html#Data<\/a><\/p>\n See what specific information GreenNet stores here:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.gn.apc.org\/Communications%20Data.html<\/a><\/p>\n Read other responses and the public consultation document here:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.fipr.org\/retention.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 17th October 2003. It questions the legality of Home Office plans to snoop on the phone and Internet activity of the UK population. Privacy International reports: \u201cThe Opinion, which relates to the EU framework directive on the retention of communications … Continue reading