UK: All E-Mails & Phone Data Tracked/Traced

UK: All E-Mails & Phone Data Tracked/Traced

www.guardian.co.uk

New regulations that came into force last week - requiring telephone and internet companies to keep logs of what numbers are called, and which websites and email services and internet telephony contacts are made - have left some wondering if investigative journalism, with its need to protect sources (and its sources' need, often, for protection), has been dealt a killer blow.

Worries focus on the fact that every government department, local council and even quango can access this telephone and internet data, given a judge's clearance. What will they use it for? To investigate everything from treason to flytipping. Might it also be used to find out who has been tipping off a journalist on a local paper about the misdeeds of local councillors? That's the concern.

"I would say that investigative reporting is desperately threatened by what this government is doing. I've been thinking a long time about how to stay one step ahead of the game," says the Brighton-based investigative journalist Duncan Campbell (not the reporter of the same name on this paper).

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
Government Spying On Citizens Is Not New - InfoWars.com
Government will spy on every call and e-mail - London Telegraph
Big Brother Spying on Americans' Internet Data? - ABC News
Researchers: Cyber spies break into government computers - USA Today

[edit on 14-4-2009 by News And History]

Campbell also mentioned, "police" put all sorts of information (mostly emails, phone calls, surveillance videotapes, and vehicle license plates) into a "real-time system", which any well-equipped spy or hacker (foreign or domestic agents) can access.

Spying on us in the name of the "holy" government has been done for years. These so-called, "regulations" are just a public announcement of what they've been doing on a daily-basis.

They're trying to monitor people all over the English-speaking nations & beyond:

For Your Eyes Only?

Google Video Link

Is the government reading your e-mail? NOW reports on new evidence suggesting the existence of a secret government program that intercepts millions of private e-mails each day in the name of terrorist surveillance.

News about the alleged program came to light when a former AT&T employee, Mark Klein, blew the whistle on what he believes to be a large-scale installation of secret Internet monitoring equipment deep inside AT&T's San Francisco office. The equipment, he contends, was created at the request of the U.S. Government to spy on e-mail traffic across the entire Internet. Though the government and AT&T refuse to address the issue directly, Klein backs up his charges with internal company documents and personal photos.

Criminal Defense Lawyer Nancy Hollander, who represents several Muslim-Americans, feels her confidential e-mails are anything but secure. "I've personally never been afraid of my government until now. And now I feel personally afraid that I could be locked up tomorrow," she tells NOW. Who might be eyeing the hundreds of millions of e-mails Americans send out each day, and to what end?

Government spying on emails

Yes we are all so scared that terrorists might Email us some spam or something , So why not let the government take away our civil liberties our right to privacy . That really makes sense , Just how stupid does the government think the people are . By the way what the hell is a terrorists someone that insight terror , because the gover[n]ment is trying to use fear based dogma to sell us this Bull Sh1t about terrorists , sounds like there trying to instill terror to the masses . What BS , I have only ever seen State Sponsored terrorism in the media , and nothing el[s]e . If I truly didn't want my emails being intercepted by terrorists then I better not let the government get hold of them, thats for sure.

A former state security analyst has questioned the "prevention" approach to cyber terrorism proposed by the federal government.

New counter-terrorism measures being developed by the government, including changes to the Telecommunications Act, would allow companies to monitor the emails and internet communications of employees without their consent.

The act currently only allows security agencies to monitor employees' internet activities.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland said the new laws, which would only apply to businesses critical to the economy such as the stock exchange or electricity grid, would help protect Australia's critical infrastructure from cyber attack.

Plenty of comments from people victimized by the UK government and other criminal spy-networks can be found at: Timesonline.co.uk

new world order coming slowly if i were to sat 20 + years ago the goverment will put cctv in towns and citys'etc and be able to track your every move and read and listen to phone calls and email if they were going to this all in one go there would be a uproar but gradually - John , stokton, durham

So they allow millions of potential terrorists into our country and we have to pay the price by being spied on? I hate what this country and the rest of europe has become and I know many feel the same. What can we do about it? all we ever do is talk but never take any action. - Sion, kent, uk

So we now live behind th bamboo curtain. Why on earth do the government want so much control over it's citizens, are they not aware that all the trouble with gangs is from a feeling of dis-enfranchisement. We never chose him and hardly any of us agree with any of his decicions concerning our lives. - L. Metcalfe, Brighton,

We must spy on the tyrants, who pose as our leaders. They're trying so hard to destroy our lives. It's quite obvious that they're at war against us. They're our common-foes. We must stand against them for life (not just for ourselves, but for our children & their future).

Is the NSA reading your e-mail? pbs.org/FRONTLINE

Former AT&T technician Mark Klein and internet expert Brian Reid describe an NSA listening room that Klein discovered while working at the company's operations center. In "Spying on the Home Front" FRONTLINE talks to intelligence insiders [...]

Reporter Hedrick Smith presents new material on how the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program works and examines clashing viewpoints on whether the President has violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and infringed on constitutional protections.

In another dramatic story, the program shows how the FBI vacuumed up records on 250,000 ordinary Americans who chose Las Vegas as the destination for their Christmas-New Year's holiday, and the subsequent revelation that the FBI has misused National Security Letters to gather information.

Probing such projects as Total Information Awareness, and its little known successors, Smith discloses that even former government intelligence officials now worry that the combination of new security threats, advances in communications technologies, and radical interpretations of presidential authority may be threatening the privacy of Americans.

www.guardian.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 14-4-2009 by News And History]

Ah yes good ol' Britain.

The Devil's playground to test out fancy toys of suppression and means of mass surveillance.

Then again I would presume law enforcement agencies have had this power to force ISP cooperation in handing over customer details and traffic data in Britain for some time now.

What's scary is the way they want to allow it to be pawned off to third parties like baseball cards.

Bet you're bottom dollar America is only a few steps behind.

Our enemies are trying to enslave all of us. They've been trying to gain control over everything we value. They've been caught digging graves for us, spreading diseases to gradually destroy our bodies, and monitoring our loved-ones for fun. We need to get these tyrants out of our lives for ever.

We do not belong to any government. We are free, and we will stay free, as long as we're breathing! Tyrants must be destroyed, at all costs.

Start using encrypted e-mail if you aren't already. Get everyone you know to use it, too.

If they really want to know what you are doing beyond what they claim they want the current powers for (i.e. simply seeing who you write to) then they'll have to get up close and personal to find out.

I believe they presently use keyword monitoring and would imagine that this tactic will continue... of course you can type and talk in code for the rest of your life... encrypted emails will surely be accessible to the ISP's and/or government, no?

I say we should all use the words bomb, cemtex, anthrax, HN51, money laundering, and anything else you can think of that the government will pick up in their keyword lists in every email and phone call for a month or so... waste their time searching through hours of calls and messages which have no sinister meaning and they will either reverse their decision or move more quickly forward to total control... either one I would welcome as people in the UK are growing increasingly weary of police, government spying and it really is a pressure cooker.

I hope the public stands up for their rights, but people do depend on their luxuries a tad too much. It will end badly... but we all knew that anyway, right?

I've just returned to work from the Easter weekend and deleted 490 pieces of email from my spam box. What would prevent nasty types from developing software that generated 'suspicious' emails to flood the system to make it harder for the PTB to sift through the genuinely suspicious emails. And what about XBOX, PS3, Wii, PC in game chat? Are these monitored too? What about proxy servers?

This all sounds like a very large sledgehammer to crack a few nuts.

Berth

Big Brother is watching YOU.

Orwell wrote a prophetic novel, 1984. This depicted a world overtly under complete control of government. The film interpretation was very overt. 1984 came and went and hey! the world wasn't like that, was it? Nothing to worry about!

Urban myth?
At GCHQ, the UK centre for national and government intelligence tells it like this;

"The UK Intelligence Agencies
GCHQ is one of the three UK Intelligence Agencies and a part of the UK's National Intelligence Machinery. GCHQ works in partnership with the Security Service (also known as MI5) and the Secret Intelligence Service (also known as MI6) to protect the UK's national security interests.

The Agencies act within the law. All their operations are conducted within a framework of legislation that defines their roles and activities. In summary, their operations must relate to national security, the prevention or detection of serious crime, or the UK's economic well-being.

Much greater detail on the UK's National Intelligence Machinery, the roles of the Agencies, legislation, accountability and funding can be found at www.intelligence.gov.uk. See also the MI5 and MI6 websites."
(Taken from GCHQ website)

An acquaitance of mine once visited GCHQ and was fortunate enough to enter one of the computer rooms. He described the room as being approximately 1 acre in size and containing nothing but computers and placed a ballpark estimate of the monetary cost of these to be in region of £1b.

The system is protected via quantum kryptology that would require prohibitively huge resources for petabite capability to hack into it.

From GQHC website; "You serve the nation with great distinction and are recognised around the world as the best intelligence agency." Gordon Brown.

We know how information is also gathered by large corporations. How many people have store loyalty cards? These record all transactions, including store location and therefore your location at the time of the transaction and individual spending habits. The banks collect similar data.

Orwell got it right. That government and multicorp gather personal information on individuals. We may not be overtly mind controlled as yet, but these intelligence activities by the PTB and their representatives can only help them better understand how to make the transition from covert mind control, ie all forms of passive suggestion, to overt mind control and the advent of thought police as experienced by Orwell's antihero, Winston.

I am not suggesting that there is not a very real threat to western liberty by those seeking to undermine the power of the most equitable economically successful system. I am suggesting that there is a very real threat to western liberty by the very people and organisations entrusted with protecting it.

reply to post by News And History


First of all congratulations on a good thread

I seen this on BBC's website the other day and understandably was very annoyed. Britain is said to have more CCTV camera's than any other country in Europe, it seems each and every day we are moving one step close to a true Orwellian 1984 society.

To be perfectly honest I wasn't that shocked that these regulations have come into play, theres been talk about them for a while now and it was only a matter of time before they were passed.

One reason though why I'm not too particulary worried though is that I believe the government already had this ability, these new regulations just make it legal.

Echelon is very real and while it's pretty hard to imagine the techical capabilities of a system so large I think that its definately possible and in place.

Heard of BT's 21st Century Network? Replacing all the traditional analog technology within its telephone exchanges with digital equipment and Cisco routers?

Upgrading to Cisco technology and IP links between exchanges make whatever data flowing through them alot easier to access.

According to what I have read, the content of the mobile telephone calls and the website will not be recorded. Only the source, destination, time & date; however thats not the issue.

With regards to defeating the technology as someone has mentioned use encrypted email. www.hushmail.com provides free email encrypted up to 2048 bits.

Incidentally I believe using encrypted email will make it more likely that you'll be watched. The logic of the powers that be being "if he hasn't got anything to hide then why encrypt his mail" - I reckon in this case they would intercept your email, crack it and check it.

With regards to making life hard working for the government, Echelon, teleco's etc then I agree with what someone else has stated about including key words in every email you send.

You could even include a string of key words or a sentence that contains them in your email signature. Only problem being with this it means every email you send obviously will no longer be confidential but what is confidential on the internet these days?

To take it a step further spammers could re-configure their software to send only key words out, although the legality of this is questionable.

I'm not sure if it would be possible to prosecute, even if the spammer in question was caught, how can you cause damage to a system that existences and purpose has never been officially declared?

Anyone that uses primary forms of communications to pass incriminating information will simply take to developing classic code speak and code phrases to communicate as spys have always done. They know this so these revelations about communication monitoring is just more mind control big brother is the eye in the sky all drop to your knees bull.

The psychological effect of knowing you are being watched is profound. They have the power to watch and yet hide in the darkness. They know you but you dont know them. If they ever have to come after you they can walk into court with a stack of all your calls, e-mails and blog posts and attempt to build a profile against you. Twist and bend everything around into a picture of a person engaged in un-american activity for example. Maybe a religious anti government fanatic? With the definition of that changing everyday watch out.

Wow! Just think what Hitler and the SS could have done with all this information!

reply to post by Death_Kron

www.hushmail.com provides free email encrypted up to 2048 bits.

There are serious questions over how secure HushMail is. They generate the keys - there is nothing stopping them from keeping copies for later.