Imperial Party forum

thomas davison

Revealed, snoopers charter will cost YOU �2bn: Huge price of plan to let state spy on websites, emails and textsBritain's snooping watchdog reveals grave doubts over the mass surveillance project
Internal documents say plans could lead to innocents being wrongly identified as criminals
Project has sparked huge row at Westminster, dividing the Coalition

By James Slack
PUBLISHED: 22:05, 2 April 2012 | UPDATED: 07:41, 3 April 2012

Big Brother plans to spy on all internet visits, emails and texts will cost the taxpayer �2billion.
The extraordinary bill was revealed amid revelations that Britain�s snooping watchdog has grave doubts about the mass surveillance project.

The Office of the Information Commissioner said the case had �not been made� to justify the sweeping expansion in the power of the police and other public bodies to trawl through private communications, including visits to Facebook and eBay.
Internal ICO papers, marked restricted, say the Orwellian plan could lead to the innocent being wrongly identified as criminals or terrorists and barred from flying.
Grave doubts: The mass surveillance project has sparked fears that it could lead to the innocent being wrongly identified as criminals or terrorists
Division: Splits in the coalition over the proposals were signalled by Tim Farron (left) while the concerns of the Information Commissioner's Office were uncovered by the Tory MP Dominic Raab (right)

A huge row has broken out at Westminster over the plans, which look certain to be included in the forthcoming Queen�s Speech.
Splits in the coalition over the proposals were signalled by Tim Farron, the Lib Dem president. He said: �We didn�t scrap ID cards to back creeping surveillance by other means. The State mustn�t be able to trace citizens at will.�
In opposition, both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats were fierce opponents of the policy, first suggested by Labour in 2006.
They are now pointing to the huge estimated cost of the spying project at a time when the Government is making cuts elsewhere.

More...David Davis attacks plans to monitor online messages as 'an unnecessary extension of the ability of the state to snoop on ordinary people'
Confidential data of 800,000 people on child support services register as four computer storage devices are lost
The Big Brother state row is the latest example of the disastrous mishandling of issues by the Coalition
Arizona passes state bill that would 'censor any offensive' remarks on the internet
JAMES SLACK: Promises betrayed, and this stealthy slide into Big Brother Britain

The Home Office estimates that the programme � under which internet providers will be paid to store hundreds of millions of pieces of data for up to two years � will cost �2billion over its first decade alone.
Beyond this point there will be annual running costs of �200million � or �380 a minute.

Even these figures, which are based on 2009 prices, could be an underestimate given the complexity of the project � and officials� terrible record for estimating the price of IT schemes.
The data will have to be stored securely, in a way which makes it easy for GCHQ, the government listening agency, to access. This requires huge resources which the Government has agreed to pay.
The alternative would have seen internet service providers passing on the cost to their customers.
Downing Street insisted that only times, dates, numbers and email and internet addresses would be accessible by GCHQ.
A warrant will still be required to access the content.
Ministers say the changes are needed to keep pace with technology. But the concerns of the Information Commissioner�s Office were uncovered by the Tory MP Dominic Raab, using freedom of information requests.
Staff prepared papers for the commissioner, Christopher Graham, in 2010 when it was first suggested that the Coalition might revive Labour�s scheme.
'This is a stark warning'
The documents say: �Our position remains that the case for the retention of this data still needs to be made. The value of historic communications data in criminal investigations has not yet been elucidated.�
Worryingly, they warn of serious consequences for the public if mistakes are made when the data is being stored.
Officials say: �Individuals may be wrongly identified, subject to identity fraud or there may just be a mistake. How do they put this right? Intelligence can be used to put people on no-fly lists, limit incomes or asset grabs by government agencies.
�There needs to be a clear means of repair when something goes wrong, which it inevitably will at some point.�
The papers also warn of the potential for abuse by internet service providers, once they have been paid to collect the data.
Defence: Security minister James Brokenshire said the emphasis was on solving crime rather than 'real-time snooping on everybody's emails'
�There needs to be some recognition that this additional data will be a honeypot as it will reveal the browsing habits and communications of celebrities, politicians etc.
�Has a government minister been using web applications to communicate on Adultfriendfinder? Just how long has that celebrity being communicating with his alleged mistress on Skype?�
Mr Raab said: �This is a stark warning. Far from improving our security, these flawed plans to privatise Big Brother surveillance will subject every citizen to intrusive monitoring, and expose us to the risk of massive fraud on an unprecedented scale.�
Britain is already one of the most spied-upon nations � with three million operations carried out under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act � ostensibly an anti-terror law � over the last decade.

These have included thousands of operations by town hall bureaucrats, the Financial Services Authority, NHS trusts, the Environment Agency and a plethora of government departments.
Ministers are under pressure severely to restrict access to the new regime.
Councils have used their existing powers to snoop on families suspected of cheating school catchment area rules and putting their bins out on the wrong day.
Whitehall sources insist councils will have only very limited access to the information, and will require the approval of a magistrate. They will not have access to any sensitive data. Security minister James Brokenshire said the emphasis was on solving crime rather than �real-time snooping on everybody�s emails�.
He told Radio 4�s The World at One: �We absolutely get the need for appropriate safeguards and for appropriate protections to be put in place around any changes that might come forward.
�What this is not is the previous government�s plan of creating some sort of great big Big Brother database. That is precisely not what this is looking at.�
WHAT THE CHANGES WILL MEAN TO YOU
Many of us have several devices to communicate with others. Here, we explain how the new system will affect them:
Under surveillance: In future, every website visit via your iPad or laptop would be kept for a fixed period by your internet service provider
LANDLINE
No change. Police, the security services and other public bodies can already access data on who you are calling and when, but not the details of what was said. This information is stored by phone companies, but a ministerial warrant is required to access it.
MOBILE PHONE
Officials can already find out who you have called or texted and when, and even pinpoint your location. The law does not currently cover modern ways of communicating, such as BlackBerrys. In future, those platforms would be tracked too.
LAPTOP/IPAD
Some basic data is currently stored, such as when a person started browsing the web. In future, every website visit would be kept for a fixed period by your internet service provider. This would only detail the address of the website, and not the exact content.
EMAIL
No change. Officials can already see who you email, and when. If there is a suspicion of wrongdoing, police and security services can access your correspondence under a warrant.
SKYPE
Terrorists have turned to Skype, as existing laws do not cover internet telephone calls. Security officials say this loophole must be closed. If their demands are met, they would be able to check who you call and when.
FACEBOOK
As with web browsing, social networking data is not routinely stored. New rules would give the authorities the right to know who you have been talking to on Facebook, and when.
GAMES CONSOLE
Security services suspect online gaming � which allows players to chat using headsets or text messages � could be used to plot terrorist activity. In future, data would be stored on who gamers play with or talk to.

Its a nasty little state we have in this country, perhaps they are terrified of an English spring?

Yet again, our government show that they would rather we lost WW2 and just rolled over to be oppressed. They are so ashamed to be British and to be Free. As our grandparents did for themselves, MY freedom will not be taken or given away either. Go on, keep pushing us and there wil not be a place on earth you will be able to hide when the rebellion comes.