Thursday, October 16, 2008

The British Government plans to step in to the abyss with massive telecom database

The Independent is reporting that the British government is planning to announce a 1 BILLION POUND project that would involve the creation of a database to log every e-mail, telephone call and website click and retain the information for one year.

The project seems to be universally panned: the independent reviewer of UK anti-terrorism laws says "as a raw idea it is awful". The Information Commissioner calls it a "step too far".

If anyone had asked me (which they didn't, but I have constitutional rights here in Canada and get to say what I want), I would have said the idea is not surprising given the way things are going in England, but it is a clear step into the abyss of giving up any sense of private life in the country. See: Exclusive: Storm over Big Brother database - Home News, UK - The Independent. Big thanks to DP thinker: Proposed Database for pointing to the story.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Any word on whether it will log government calls and emails? Will it log calls about calls?