BBC News Online: 'Snoop' plans put on hold

[David Hansen]

On 18 Jun 2002 at 12:33, Owen Blacker wrote:

> Controversial plans to give a raft of public bodies access to e-mail
> and mobile phone records are to be postponed indefinitely, the BBC
> understands.

I doubt it. I also don't believe much of what the BBC says. They have 
been caught lying before.
 
> Home Secretary David Blunkett is thought to have ordered a re-think of
> the new surveillance laws

If this is true then this must start with the RIP Act, which should 
be repealed completely. The few good bits could be implemented in a 
separate Act, there is not enough good to make it worthwhile trying 
to repair RIP.

Mr Blunkett varies, from trying to outdo his two predecessors in 
being obnoxious to something approaching human. Let's hope he is in a 
liberal mood when he looks at the issue, but I doubt it.

> The postponement went further than expected - Mr Blunkett had been
> tipped to limit access to private e-mail and phone records to council
> chief executives and senior staff. 

That is an old bit of spin. The other was that the debate had been 
put off by a week due to timetabling.
 
> Ministers are reported to have been taken aback by the scale of
> opposition to the proposals. 

Good.

As Owen has said, if government can unite the Daily Telegraph and the 
Guardian then they must be doing something wrong.

This does raise questions about the quality of advice they are 
getting. The Home Office is largely full of duffers, as I discovered 
when I worked in the Civil Service. This was again demonstrated when 
the evil empire posted PR bullshit to this group some time ago, which 
didn't withstand even basic scrutiny. The claim that the police are 
not agents of repressive regimes was amusing, if very sad, especially 
as it was made not that long after the police had openly acted as 
agents of a repressive regime when the evil Chineese regime paid a 
visit to the UK.
 
> Meanwhile, a committee of MPs is due to debate the interception of
> live telephone and internet communications later on Tuesday, which is
> also contained in the RIPA act. 

Another thing hidden away.

> Communication service providers have agreed to work with the security
> services to provide access to electronic communications.

Very stupid of them. They need to escape from the cosy world they 
once inhabited and realise that those who survive will be the ones 
who put the interests of the customer first.


--
  David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
 I will *always* explain why I revoke a key, unless the UK 
 government prevents me using the RIP Act 2000.