DSS and LAs to trawl internet traffic

[Roland Perry]

In message <20011027022208.31990.qmail@web20902.mail.yahoo.com>, General
Saint <murdered2@yahoo.com> writes

>The convoluted Social Security Fraud Act 2001 says:

The time to complain about this was during the six months before the
last election, when the Bill was being debated. There has also been a
more recent consultation on the Code of Practice.

In general terms I think most people would agree that the technical
safeguards under this Act are significantly less than under RIPA.
Nevertheless, enquiries do have to be specific to named individuals or
households (so no trawling is allowed).

The information required by Benefits Agency is well documented in the
Code of Practice, it's well worth reading if you have concerns.

The BA also has to pay Telecoms providers for the cost of disclosing the
information. Financial institutions and other utilities are not paid for
the information they are asked to disclose, which could result in telco
records being accessed only as a last resort.

What information will they want from Telecoms companies - well, it's all
about proving if people are living fraudlent double lives, claiming
benefit when also a student, or [self-]employed, or co-habiting. The BA
believes that asking for the name of the bill-payer is a good way to
establish who is responsible for a household or business, and therefore
to identify these situations. (Remember, co-habiting will be indicated
if a *different* person pays the household bill, whereas self-employment
will be indicated if the claimant is paying a suspect business's bill).
-- 
             Roland Perry | tel: +44 1733 207705 | roland@linx.org
Director of Public Policy | fax: +44 1733 207729 | http://www.linx.net
 London Internet Exchange | mbl: +44 7050 604080 |       /contact/roland