Police 'to be given powers to view everyone's entire internet history'

Soldato
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:cool:

Agree with this though:

“It’s a traditional Home Office dance first to ask for the most outrageous, even impractical, powers, so that the smallest so-called ‘concessions’ seem more reasonable,” she said. “The frantic spinning distracts from the sleight of hand. Where is the judicial sign-off before our private communications can be collected, hacked and tapped? Where is the move back to targeted surveillance and away from the blanket collection of our private data?
 
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Caporegime
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But they want to store everything. Not just logs, but the contents of e-mails and messages.

Again, already happening. How do you think the contents of your emails get from your computer to the computer of your recipients?

When traffic is logged, everything in them is logged to. A lot will be safe behind encryption, but then you just move the request from theessage carriers to the owners of it stored in a readable format (I.e. your email provider).

People need to get their head around the fact that everything they do online is logged and stored. Being surprised by stories like this just highlights a complete lack of understanding of what's already going on around you.
 
Associate
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It's not todays capabilities that should be of any worry, it is the benefit of a foundation in law and practice combined with future advances.

Exactly. This is a really important point I think most people overlook.

We don't know what this country will be like in 25 or 50 years, or who it will be governed by. Just because now we live in a state of relative freedom, doesn't mean it will always stay this way.

We should be preserving the liberties that were fought for over the decades, not giving them away again. The whole "I've not nothing to hide, so why would I care about this?" is an extremely narrowminded and selfish outlook to have
 
Soldato
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Soldato
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Lol I looked through my one and was somewhat shocked. Suffice to say it's been deleted and turned off just incase my account is ever comprimised. Won't effect (affect?) googles own database about my searches though.
 
Soldato
Joined
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Again, already happening. How do you think the contents of your emails get from your computer to the computer of your recipients?

When traffic is logged, everything in them is logged to. A lot will be safe behind encryption, but then you just move the request from theessage carriers to the owners of it stored in a readable format (I.e. your email provider).

People need to get their head around the fact that everything they do online is logged and stored. Being surprised by stories like this just highlights a complete lack of understanding of what's already going on around you.

Obviously e-mails are stored...how else would you be able to access them if they weren't stored anywhere? Duh.

This issue is with allowing them to be read willy-nilly.
 
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Associate
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6 Jan 2007
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1,509
The same as google stores everything you ever googled..

It's pretty easy to avoid. Don't be logged into your Google account when you search and delete the default Google+ profile they force onto you (most people don't use this anyway). Or use a service like duckduckgo.com who don't track anything.

Also browse the net whilst you're connected to a VPN and that will encrypt your traffic so your ISP can't tell what data you're sending/receiving. Most are fast enough these days that you won't even notice a difference in speed. Be sure to use a VPN provider that respects their client's privacy though.

You can become relatively anonymous online. There are easy ways now to send and receive encrypted emails that require pretty much zero technical know-how. There are also programs you can use that encrypt your online chat that look and function like Skype.

Thing is most people simply don't care. They're just lazy and take everything for granted. Everyone still thinks you're either a freak or a criminal if you want privacy online. I've always felt the complete opposite.

Most willingly hand over every personal detail about their lives without a second thought, whether it's to Facebook or some other massive corporation or government body that's primary purpose is tracking you
 
Joined
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Bump to get this back to the top for discussion.

After seeing this in the news today I feel totally and utterly disheartened at some of the responses, interviews and justifications being used to usher this in. Nearly every angle is "won't somebody think of the children" or "this is the same as X, so don't worry about it".

Radio 4 had the Chief of the Police Federation on this morning putting the frighteners on the public about missing children, paedophiles and terrorists in our midst citing that the law was simply a modernisation of the existing powers the police have to search phone records. I beg to differ, the source and destination IP addresses of a traffic exchange along with time and duration give a much more detailed insight into a person's activities that a simple call between X & Y for Z seconds.

I genuinely fear that we are careerng towards the true death of privacy in this country now with this and the end-to-end encryption nonsense being proposed, I feel like I'm part of an informed minority powerless to stop a surging tide of miseducated people taking everything they're told at face value because feeling safe is something that must be done, no matter the cost - as they have "nothing to hide".
 
Associate
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Exactly. This is a really important point I think most people overlook.

We don't know what this country will be like in 25 or 50 years, or who it will be governed by. Just because now we live in a state of relative freedom, doesn't mean it will always stay this way.

We should be preserving the liberties that were fought for over the decades, not giving them away again. The whole "I've not nothing to hide, so why would I care about this?" is an extremely narrowminded and selfish outlook to have

This man understands!
 
Soldato
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4 Feb 2003
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Location
Birmingham
Exactly. This is a really important point I think most people overlook.

We don't know what this country will be like in 25 or 50 years, or who it will be governed by. Just because now we live in a state of relative freedom, doesn't mean it will always stay this way.

We should be preserving the liberties that were fought for over the decades, not giving them away again. The whole "I've not nothing to hide, so why would I care about this?" is an extremely narrowminded and selfish outlook to have

Thank you for restoring my faith in at least some elements of the citizens of this country.
 
Soldato
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7 Jul 2011
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Cambridgeshire
Exactly. This is a really important point I think most people overlook.

We don't know what this country will be like in 25 or 50 years, or who it will be governed by. Just because now we live in a state of relative freedom, doesn't mean it will always stay this way.

We should be preserving the liberties that were fought for over the decades, not giving them away again. The whole "I've not nothing to hide, so why would I care about this?" is an extremely narrowminded and selfish outlook to have

In addition it leads to creep. Some of the arguments being bandied at the moment already amount to "well, you've already let us do x, is y so much worse?". Once internet intrusion becomes part of the day to day, what will be the next thing they come for?

What gives me chills is the fact that I don't see political discrimination as being that far down the road anymore. I don't want people to have access to my records because I don't trust that a crack down based on political opinion won't happen in my lifetime.

Sad really.
 
Caporegime
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London
UK terrorism laws have never been abused by authorities, councils, institutions, police forces, security services etc. I have complete faith the same won't happen with these new powers.
 
Joined
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Also, why does it feel like every time there's a debate in parliament about security and privacy does it fall on the same day as some other headline grabbing item?

Doctor's pay Vs blanket data collection this time around.
 
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