CyberLaw Blog

Archive for the ‘Interception’ Category

NSA whistleblower: Warrantless wiretaps targeted journos: “

Door to room 641A cracked open

Russell Tice has dropped another bombshell. More than two years after he leaked the existence of the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program to the New York Times in late 2006, Tice says warrantless wiretaps specifically targeted journalists and news organizations – all day, every day.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Private firm may track all email and calls

The private sector will be asked to manage and run a communications database that will keep track of everyone’s calls, emails, texts and internet use under a key option contained in a consultation paper to be published next month by Jacqui Smith, the home secretary.

A cabinet decision to put the management of the multibillion pound database of all UK communications traffic into private hands would be accompanied by tougher legal safeguards to guarantee against leaks and accidental data losses.

But in his strongest criticism yet of the superdatabase, Sir Ken Macdonald, the former director of public prosecutions, who has firsthand experience of working with intelligence and law enforcement agencies, told the Guardian such assurances would prove worthless in the long run and warned it would prove a ‘hellhouse’ of personal private information.

‘Authorisations for access might be written into statute. The most senior ministers and officials might be designated as scrutineers. But none of this means anything,’ said Macdonald. ‘All history tells us that reassurances like these are worthless in the long run. In the first security crisis the locks would loosen.’

The home secretary postponed the introduction of legislation to set up the superdatabase in October and instead said she would publish a consultation paper in the new year setting out the proposal and the safeguards needed to protect civil liberties. She has emphasised that communications data, which gives the police the identity and location of the caller, texter or web surfer but not the content, has been used as important evidence in 95% of serious crime cases and almost all security service operations since 2004 including the Soham and 21/7 bombing cases.

Until now most communications traffic data has been held by phone companies and internet service providers for billing purposes but the growth of broadband phone services, chatrooms and anonymous online identities mean that is no longer the case.

The Home Office’s interception modernisation programme, which is working on the superdatabase proposal, argues that it is no longer good enough for communications companies to be left to retrieve such data when requested by the police and intelligence services. A Home Office spokeswoman said last night the changes were needed so law enforcement agencies could maintain their ability to tackle serious crime and terrorism.

Senior Whitehall officials responsible for planning for a new database say there is a significant difference between having access to ‘communications data’ – names and addresses of emails or telephone numbers, for example – and the actual contents of the communications. ‘We have been very clear that there are no plans for a database containing any content of emails, texts or conversations,’ the spokeswoman said.

External estimates of the cost of the superdatabase have been put as high as £12bn, twice the cost of the ID cards scheme, and the consultation paper, to be published towards the end of next month, will include an option of putting it into the hands of the private sector in an effort to cut costs. But such a decision is likely to fuel civil liberties concerns over data losses and leaks. Macdonald, who left his post as DPP in October, told the Guardian: ‘The tendency of the state to seek ever more powers of surveillance over its citizens may be driven by protective zeal. But the notion of total security is a paranoid fantasy which would destroy everything that makes living worthwhile. We must avoid surrendering our freedom as autonomous human beings to such an ugly future. We should make judgments that are compatible with our status as free people.’

Maintaining the capacity to intercept suspicious communications was critical in an increasingly complex world, he said. ‘It is a process which can save lives and bring criminals to justice. But no other country is considering such a drastic step. This database would be an unimaginable hell-house of personal private information,’ he said. ‘It would be a complete readout of every citizen’s life in the most intimate and demeaning detail. No government of any colour is to be trusted with such a roadmap to our souls.’

The moment there was a security crisis the temptation for more commonplace access would be irresistible, he said.

Other critics of the plan point to the problems of keeping the database secure, both from the point of view of the technology and of deliberate leaks. The problem would be compounded if private companies manage the system. ‘If there is a breach of security in that database it would be utterly devastating,’ one said

(Via Latest news, sport, business, comment and reviews from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk.)

Wacky Jacqui’s £12bn gIMP could be unleashed by 2012: “

But ‘nothing decided’ on comms überdatabase, says Home Office

The government Interception Modernisation Programme (gIMP), a plan by spy chiefs to centrally collect details of every phone call, text, email and web browsing session of every UK resident, could be in place by 2012, according to a Home Office minister.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Spy chiefs plot £12bn IT spree for comms überdatabase: “

Black boxes to keep Black’s firm in the black

Billions of pounds of public money will soon be up for grabs for private IT contractors ready to serve the Interception Modernisation Programme – UK spy chiefs’ plan to store details of every call, email, text and web browsing session.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

There’s no hiding place as spy HQ plans to see all – Times Online

From The Sunday Times, October 5, 2008 (David Leppard)

Every call you make, every e-mail you send, every website you visit – I’ll be watching you.

That is the hope of Sir David Pepper who, as the director of GCHQ, the government’s secret eavesdropping agency in Cheltenham, is plotting the biggest surveillance system ever created in Britain.

From his office in the agency’s famous “doughnut” building, Pepper is masterminding an innocent-sounding project called the Interception Modernisation Programme.

The scope of the project – classified top secret – is said by officials to be so vast that it will dwarf the estimated £5 billion ministers have set aside for the identity cards programme. It is intended to fight terrorism and crime. Civil liberties groups, however, say it poses an unprecedented intrusion into ordinary citizens’ lives.

Aimed at placing a “live tap” on every electronic communication in Britain, it will dwarf other “big brother” surveillance projects such as the number plate recognition system and the spread of CCTV.

Pepper and his opposite number at MI6, Sir John Scarlett, are facing opposition from mandarins in the Treasury and Cabinet Office who fear both its cost and ethical implications.

The spy bosses say a central database is essential to “capture” the array of communications between terrorists planning to attack Britain. Draft e-mails, chatroom discussions and internet browsing on encrypted jihadist websites are the preferred forums for Al-Qaeda cells to plan their attacks, they say. However, other officials and many in the business and academic community are wary.
(more…)

Government will spy on every call and e-mail – Times Online

From The Sunday Times, October 5, 2008 (David Leppard)

Ministers are considering spending up to £12 billion on a database to monitor and store the internet browsing habits, e-mail and telephone records of everyone in Britain.

GCHQ, the government’s eavesdropping centre, has already been given up to £1 billion to finance the first stage of the project.

Hundreds of clandestine probes will be installed to monitor customers live on two of the country’s biggest internet and mobile phone providers – thought to be BT and Vodafone. BT has nearly 5m internet customers.

Ministers are braced for a backlash similar to the one caused by their ID cards programme. Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, said: “Any suggestion of the government using existing powers to intercept communications data without public discussion is going to sound extremely sinister.”

MI5 currently conducts limited e-mail and website intercepts which are approved under specific warrants by the home secretary.

Further details of the new plan will be unveiled next month in the Queen’s speech.

The Home Office stressed no formal decision had been taken but sources said officials had made clear that ministers had agreed “in principle” to the programme.

Officials claim live monitoring is necessary to fight terrorism and crime. However, critics question whether such a vast system can be kept secure. A total of 57 billion text messages were sent in the UK last year – 1,800 every second.

More on Skype surveillance in China…

Skype spies give pause for thought in China: “Most Chinese who use Skype – or at least its Chinese version TOM-Skype – were
thrilled to find a way to make free phone calls. There were also a few who
were delighted to find a way to chat while circumventing the all-seeing eye
of the state security. But today those few were scurrying to find a new way
to communicate after it emerged that Skype’s Chinese partner had been
archiving politically sensitive words and messages – and possibly even the
identities of those whose conversations could be deemed sensitive.”

(Via Tech and Web from Times Online.)

China Skype service snags and stores users’ messages: “

More than a million messages logged

Human rights advocates have uncovered a huge surveillance system in China that monitors and archives text messages sent with the Tom-Skype chat client when they contain politically charged words.…

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(Via The Register – Comms.)

Surveillance of Skype Messages Found in China: “A Canadian human rights group has uncovered a system that tracks politically charged text messages sent by customers of Tom-Skype, a joint venture of which eBay’s Skype is a partner.

(Via NYT > Technology.)

Rights Group Sues NSA and Cheney for Spying: “The Electronic Frontier Foundation sued the government and top Bush officials over its warrantless wiretapping program Thursday. The suit comes just a day before the government tries using a new and powerful tool to dismiss the group’s surprisingly resilient suit against AT&T for helping with the program.

(Via Wired News.)