BAD NEWS :( Government amendments reinforce Big Browser

[Roland Perry]

In article <2wg5GHATH2P5Ewgj@perry.co.uk>, Roland Perry
<roland@linx.net> writes
>>Please
>>explain where in the bill the definition of a telecommunications system is
>>given in such a way that web servers in general could be said to be
>>apparatus comprised in it.
>
>This is the crucial question. I will pursue it and report back.

I am now fully persuaded that any server attached to a
Telecommunications Service becomes part of that Telecommunications
Service. This is an important feature when it comes to defining email on
such as server as being "part of the telecommunications process" and
therefore only accessible by an interception warrant (and specifically
*not* by a PACE order), but opens up all servers to being subjected to
requests for Communications Data.

The emphasis, therefore, should be on what becomes defined as
Communications Data. The following are from the EU Cybercrime
Convention, and are less widely drawn than what is being read into RIP
in some quarters. It is, however, a reasonable summary of what was
'expected' in certain quarters that communications data would in
practice comprise, namely Traffic Data + Subscriber Data:

(d) "traffic data" means: 

 (1) a code indicating a network, equipment or individual number or 
    account, or similar identifying designator, transmitted to or from 
    any designated point in the chain of communication; 
 
 (2) the time, date, size, and duration of a communication; 

 (3) as to any mode of transmission (including but not limited to mobile 
    transmissions), any information indicating the physical location to 
    or from which a communication is transmitted; 

(e) "subscriber data"(4) means: 

    - any information possessed by the service provider necessary to 
      identify and determine the physical address of a subscriber, user, 
      or account-payer of a service provider's communications services, 
      and 

    - any information associated with such subscriber, user, or account-
      payer possessed by the service provider relating to a network, 
      equipment or individual number or account or similar identifying 
      designators, services, fees; the physical location of equipment, 
      (5) if known and if different from the location information 
      provided under the definition of traffic data;

(4) The explanatory report should clarify that subscriber data does not
include traffic data nor the content of any communication.

(5) The explanatory report should clearly exclude electronic
surveillance, this being a separate legal issue.

-- 
            Roland Perry | tel: +44 1733 207705 | roland@linx.org
      Regulation Officer | fax: +44 1733 353929 | http://www.linx.net
London Internet Exchange | mbl: +44 7050 604080 |       /contact/roland