What is Communications Data?

[Ian G Batten]

On Fri, 08 Nov 2002, Watkin Simon wrote:
> - mobile cell site location data

That's a stretch, isn't it?  The reason for the separation between
content and communications data appears to be in order to provide a
reasonably concrete means to partition between envelope and contents in
a way which implies the former is less intrusive.  Mobile call site
location data isn't remotely comparable to an envelope, as the data
isn't passed along with a call, isn't available to any interested
observer and is extremely intrusive.  Even if it is deemed
communciations data, I think the idea that it is only deserving of light
regulation is bad.

> - routing information, including e-mail header information (to the extent

Headers are content, and the email systems should only apply the
lightest of processing to the,.  If you mean senders and recipients,
that's the envelope, not the header.  Consider SMTP:

MAIL FROM:<sender@domain>
250 OK
MAIL TO:<recipient@domain>
250 OK
DATA
300 Go Ahead
[[ Header goes here ]]

[[ Body goes here ]]
.
250 OK

The mail system will rarely log much from the header (message id only).
I don't think other things in the header should be looked at without the
interception being classes as a content one.

> - web browsing logs (to the extent that only the domain name (web site not
> the actual page) is disclosed (eg www.homeoffice.gov.uk not
> www.homeoffice.gov.uk/ripa/ripact.htm))

Why the distinction?  And will it, in reality, be observed?

> - cookies (to the extent that personal information or preferences is **not**
> disclosed)

They're content, surely?

ian