30 Jul 2009
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has expressed concerns over the collection of communications data proposed in the government's interception modernisation programme.
Communications service providers (CSPs) are already compelled to retain communications data that can be examined by authorities for a period of 12 months.
But while the government has abandoned plans for a database of all internet communications, it is currently consulting on plans to force CSPs to collect more information on internet activity and process it for authorities to examine.
In a response to the consultation, the ICO said the government has not yet made a good enough case for the routine collection and retention of further communications data covering the entire population.
"The ICO recognises the value that communications data has for the prevention and detection of crime and the prosecution of offenders. However, this in itself is not justification enough for mandating the collection of all possible communications data on all subscribers by all CSPs," says the ICO response document.
The ICO said the government does not appear to have fully investigated other options that may exist between the two extremes of a single, centralised database of all communications data and doing nothing.
The privacy watchdog is concerned that current safeguards are not adequate to deal with the further collection and processing of communications data by CSPs to ensure they are doing it properly.
The response emphasises that there is a danger CSPs could use the information for their own purposes in the course of collecting it for the government.
Last month a report by academics at the London School of Economics concluded that the government's data collection proposals represented a "phase change" in the relationship between the citizen and the state, and would place an undue burden on CSPs.
An MPs' all-party privacy group is also examining the government's proposals and met for the first time earlier this month.
Why does this government always put so much faith in large profit making companies, expecting them to invest in security and do things right. That's expensive and so it won't happen. But that's alright because they have someone else to blame (Airwave (Police), NHS IT, Nimrod maintenance are great examples). Government projects might sometimes spiral out of control in expense but atleast they're less likely to make huge and/or calculated blunders or avoid best practice. I read today in computing, they plan on putting a resiliance network on the internet, apparently they are better than the whitehouse, google microsoft, the military and any other large company that has suffered DOS.
Putting content aside, which can be encrypted. People say if you have nothing to hide, connection info doesn't matter and Google analytic type schemes don't matter. The CSPS have a great incentive to sell this info, like PHORM and no incentive to secure it beyond the obvious, the non military government seems incapable of judging risk. I could name a few but I prefer not to post ideas to the potentially untrusted.
Even what websites a particular company employee visits might represent IPR and so a target for paid hackers to sell to competitive companies, resulting in productive and innovative companies not reaping the rewards and so damaging the economy, technology development and peoples jobs.
This is crucial as most Govt R&D money ends up swallowed by Universities and so called angels rather than long term innovators (being privatised, why was education privatisation prevented in the past, there must have been good reasons, like best practice and teaching).
Posted by: Kevin Chadwick 11 Nov 2009
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