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The UK has got your numher
new legislation to watch Web use
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(THE DUTY OF) INNOCENT PEOPLE
TO JUSTIFY WHY
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VI ' t i-
■NICK PICKLES,
DIRECTOR OF BIG BROTHER WATCH
By Justyn Melrose
Staff Writer
Do you ever get the feeling that
someone is watching you?
Soon, a new law in the U.K. will allow
the government to monitor citizens'
internet use.
"There's two parts," said Nick
Pickles, director of Big Brother Watch to
The Guilfordian in an email interview.
"Firstly, it involves asking service
providers who currently don't record the
details of how you use communications
tools (to do so). Phone companies are
covered at present but not Facebook,
for example. Secondly, the proposal is
for the government to have physical
devices at strategic points on the U.K.'s
communications network to allow real-
’ time access."
Essentially, this means that the U.K.
government will have greater access
to the Internet communication of
its citizenry and be able to monitor
communication as it is happening.
One major question is whether
this legislation would be effective in
ability to encrypt is likely to always be
one step ahead of the ability to break
encryption.
"I think there's a host of problems,"
said Pickles. "Firstly the enormous
privacy issues — this kind of
monitoring capability is unprecedented
in a Western democracy. Then there
are broader questions of feasibility, cost
and the impact on businesses — none
of which have yet been addressed by
the government. There's also a broad
principle at stake — that it is not (the
duty of) innocent people to justify why
government should not be able to spy
at them."
Robert Duncan, visiting assistant
professor of political science, provides
further perspective on the realities
involved in this debate.
"You have a better chance of being
run over by a herd of buffalo on a
Wednesday of a full moon than being
attacked by terrorists in this country,"
said Duncan.
However, Duncan also explained
that in the event that something online
resulted in an attack, the respective
"You have a better chance of being run over by a herd of
buffalo on a Wednesday of a full moon than being attacked
by terrorists in this country."
Robert Duncan, visiting assistant professor of political science
thwarting possible national attacks.
Some argue in favor of the law,
justifying it in the hypothetical event
that the government is able to stop a
massive attack thanks to this legislation.
Oppositely, however, in the case that this
legislation does nothing to effectively
protect the people, some would say that
the law needlessly encroaches on the
people's right to privacy.
Big Brother Watch, as well as other
groups and individuals, stand against
this legislation.
"The vast majority of communications
between individuals in any society
are not in any way, shape or form
hazardous to the society as a whole,
but the (exposing) of a number of those
communications could be hazardous
to the individual in ways that no such
society should tolerate," said Rob
Whitnell, chair of computing and
information technology and professor
of chemistry.
Whitnell also brought up the matter
of feasibility.
As the ability to encrypt data
advances, it is difficult to keep up. The
government would "jump on that like
a chicken after a June bug and stop it
for public safety. The government has a
right to protect the public."
The U.S. government had taken
similar action post-9/11. Internet use
was monitored and wire tapping was
used in hopes of finding some kind of
connection to terrorist activity.
In a way, the U.S. monitoring was
more in-depth than the upcoming U.K.
legislation as the U.K. intends only to
monitor the Internet.
The U.S. government has since
announced they closed the program
down, although — according to Duncan
— this is probably not the whole truth.
"If you believe that. I've got some
swampland in Florida I will sell you,"
said Duncan.
Duncan added, "There should be
some kind of standards put in place, but
to have the government be big brother
and censor and monitor and look at all
this stuff, I don't think thaf s good either,
right?
"So which way do you lean? Only
time will tell."