> ############################################################ > ############################################################ > > MI5 builds new centre to read e-mails on the net > > Nicholas Rufford The Times > > MI5 is building a new �25m e-mail surveillance centre that will have the > power to monitor all e-mails and internet messages sent and received in > Britain. The government is to require internet service providers, such as > Freeserve and AOL, to have "hardwire" links to the new computer facility so > that messages can be traced across the internet. > > The security service and the police will still need Home Office permission > to search for e-mails and internet traffic, but they can apply for general > warrants that would enable them to intercept communications for a company > or an organisation. > > The new computer centre, codenamed GTAC - government technical assistance > centre - which will be up and running by the end of the year inside MI5's > London headquarters, has provoked concern among civil liberties groups. > "With this facility, the government can track every website that a person > visits, without a warrant, giving rise to a culture of suspicion by > association," said Caspar Bowden, director of the Foundation for > Information Policy Research. > > The government already has powers to tap phone lines linking computers, but > the growth of the internet has made it impossible to read all material. By > requiring service providers to install cables that will download material > to MI5, the government will have the technical capability to read > everything that passes over the internet. > > Home Office officials say the centre is needed to tackle the use of the > internet and mobile phone networks by terrorists and international crime > gangs.Charles Clark, the minister in charge of the spy centre project, said > it would allow police to keep pace with technology. > > "Hardly anyone was using the internet or mobile phones 15 years ago," a > Home Office source said. "Now criminals can communicate with each other by > a huge array of devices and channels and can encrypt their messages, > putting them beyond the reach of conventional eavesdropping." > > There has been an explosion in the use of the internet for crime in Britain > and across the world, leading to fears in western intelligence agencies > that they will soon be left behind as criminals abandon the telephone and > resort to encrypted e-mails to run drug rings and illegal prostitution and > immigration rackets. > > The new spy centre will decode messages that have been encrypted. Under new > powers due to come into force this summer, police will be able to require > individuals and companies to hand over computer "keys", special codes that > unlock scrambled messages. > > There is controversy over how the costs of intercepting internet traffic > should be shared between government and industry. Experts estimate that the > cost to Britain's 400 service providers will be �30m in the first year. > Internet companies say that this is too expensive, especially as many are > making losses. > > About 15m people in Britain have internet access. Legal experts have warned > that many are unguarded in the messages they send or the material they > download, believing that they are safe from prying eyes. > > "The arrival of this spy centre means that Big Brother is finally here," > said Norman Baker, Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes. "The balance between the > state and individual privacy has swung too far in favour of the state." > > ############################################################
