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British Plans for E-Mail Snoop Center Revealed

The paper fleshed out rumors that have been floating around for several months, namely that major UK Internet service providers (ISPs) will have to foot the costs of installing a wideband connection to the UK's monitoring center.

Originally, it was thought the monitoring network - an extension of the current Echelon international network - would be hooked into Menwith Hill, the British government's existing monitoring center in Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

The Sunday Times, however, reported that the Internet monitoring center will now be located at London's MI5 headquarters and be operational by the end of the year. The center, code-named the government technical assistant center (GTAC), has already attracted criticism from UK civil liberties groups.

The paper quotes Casper Bowden, the director of the Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR), as saying that GTAC can track every Web site that any person visits, without a warrant, "giving rise to a culture of suspicion by association."

Bowden has previously voiced his public criticism for the UK's Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) bill, which will give the British government the all-clear to monitor private e-mails and mobile phone conversations.

The RIP bill has been in the legal pipeline in the UK for almost 18 months and mirrors similar proposed legislation in the US which has since been placed on a back burner by the Clinton administration.

In essence, the bill bring the UK's current Interception of Communications Act, which dates from the 1980s, into the world of the Internet and digital communications.

The proposed law sets down rules which the police and the UK security services must adhere to if they require any computer user to hand over the decryption codes used on his/her e-mail or similar transmitted data - at the formal request of the police or government security agencies.

Bowden has said that the proposed legislation is unworkable in its current form, and has accused the government of rushing through the bill without any regard for advice and lobbying it has received in the last 12 months.

Bowden argues that the law could make a criminal out of anyone who uses encryption to protect their privacy on the Internet.

"The DTI jettisoned decryption powers from its e-Communications Bill last year because it did not believe that a law which presumes someone guilty unless they can prove themselves innocent was compatible with the Human Rights Act," he said.

According to Bowden, the "corpse of a law" laid to rest by Stephen Byers (MP) has been stitched back up and jolted into life by Jack Straw, the Home Office Minister.

The FIPR said that the British Home Office has made limited changes that amount to window-dressing, but the essential human rights issue remains with the proposed legislation.

Other media reports over the weekend, meanwhile, suggest that the British government has earmarked $40 million for GTAC, relying on major ISPs to pick up the communications network bill.

Reuters reported that GTAC will monitor all Internet e-mail in the UK by default, quoting a Home Office spokesperson as saying that there is no way that the Security Services will be trawling through everyone's e-mail.

Instead, the GTAC operation will provide support for existing law enforcement agencies in the UK, Reuters said, adding that a warrant will still be needed before e-mail can be monitored.

The FIPR's Web site is www.fipr.com.

Reported by Newsbytes.com, www.newsbytes.com.

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