Is it just me? Or do others looking at the State of Affairs we are in,
like Putin over in Russia arresting powerful business leaders for
things like conspiring to create monopolies with pipelines and refusing to
share markets on one hand while on the other we see the unprecedented upsurging
of powers from the citizenry to an unelected and illegal {because of the
rigging of last two elections}
President and his cabal. That in provoking Russia by attacking her our so
called 'media' just lies and lies, distorts and spews propaganda we could very
well in the very near future be in a new Cold War situation. Only with roles
reversed? Russia playing the 'Beacon on the Hill' and America the repressive
communist type Police State? Am I reading the times wrong?..Mary.
Let the people do what they want, you get Woodstock. Let the government do
what it wants, you get WACO!Mary.
--- On Mon, 10/6/08, norgesen [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
From: norgesen [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [cia-drugs] Sinister government spies to scan every call, text and
email
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Received: Monday, October 6, 2008, 2:18 PM
Sinister government spies to scan every call, text and email
October 6, 2008
Ministers are considering a £12 billion plan to monitor the e-mail, telephone
and internet browsing records of every person in Britain.
Telegraph | Oct 5, 2008
By Nick Allen
The huge eavesdropping programme would involve the creation of a mammoth
central computer database to store hundreds of billions of individual pieces of
communications traffic.
Supporters say it would become one of the security services’ most comprehensive
tools in the fight against terrorism but critics described it as “sinister”.
MI5 currently has to apply to the Home Secretary for warrants to intercept
specific email and website traffic but, under the new plan, internet and mobile
phone networks could be monitored live by GCHQ, the Government listening post.
The Home Office said no decision had been taken but security officials claim
live monitoring is necessary to pick up terrorist plots.
It would allow them to capture records like chat room discussions on
password-protected Islamic extremist websites.
The annual number of phone calls and other electronic communications in the UK
is predicted to nearly double from 230 billion in 2006 to 450 billion by 2016.
Last year 57 billion text messages, or 1,800 a second, were sent. That rose
from one billion in 1999.
The number of broadband internet connections rose from 330,000 in 2001 to 18
million last year. Three billion e-mails are sent every day, or 35,000 every
second.
One of the spurs for a central database is a concern over how that electronic
communications data is currently stored by hundreds of different internet
service providers and private telephone companies.
Records may only be held for limited periods of time and are then lost which
makes it impossible for police and the security services to establishing
historical links, or so-called “friendship trees”, between terrorists.
If all communications information was centrally stored then links could be made
between terrorist cells and other sympathisers could be identified.
The telephone and internet companies are currently required to give records of
calls or internet use to law enforcement agencies if a senior officer
authorises that it is needed for an inquiry.
Last year there were more than half a million such requests.
The cost of monitoring everything, and keeping it on a central database, has
been estimated at £12 billion and would dwarf the proposed cost of the identity
cards programme.
Critics also claim it would be virtually impossible to keep such a vast system
secure and free from abuse by law enforcement agencies.
Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said: “It would mark a substantial shift
in the powers of the state to obtain information on individuals.
“Given the Government’s poor record on protecting data, and seeing how
significant an increase in power this would be, we need to have a national
debate and the Government would have to justify its need.”
The Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, has already called for a public
debate about Government proposals for the state to retain people’s internet and
phone records.
A spokesman for the commissioner said: “He warned that it is likely that such a
scheme would be a step too far for the British way of life. Proposals that
threaten such intrusion into people’s lives must be properly debated.”
Richard Clayton, a security expert at Cambridge University, said the proposal
would mean installing thousands of probes in telephone and computer networks
which would re-route data to the central database.
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
Plan for central store of telecoms records
Critics attack ‘dangerous’ gov’t comms-snooping plan
Government will spy on every call and e-mail
U.N
