Facebook/Twitter etc "bans"

[Peter Fairbrother]

Andrew Cormack wrote:

>> In article <4E4597FE.1080807 at zen.co.uk>, Peter Fairbrother 
>> <zenadsl6186 at zen.co.uk> writes

>>> Logging traffic so that the Police can see the logs would
>>> undoubtedly be interception (either monitoring traffic or
>>> modifying the system or more probably both) and it would not
>>> be lawful under 3(3) afaics

> If I'm reading it correctly RIPA s22(4)(a) may allow the police to
> order future collection of traffic data (but not content): "if the
> operator is not already in possession of the data, to obtain the
> data". I've never heard of that power being used, so maybe I've
> misunderstood and it just refers to fetching existing comms data from
> somewhere else?

AFAICS it includes ordering the collection of future data - after all 
the orders are dated and last 4 weeks, and can be renewed, so that may 
well be the intention - and indeed I think it has in the past been used 
for that purpose.

However since the ISPs started to keep traffic/comms data anyway, there 
isn't a great deal of point now.


There are a raft of regulations about the use of s.22(4), which may
have made using it in that way a little problematic.


-- Peter Fairbrother