The Guardian reports, in an article dated October 20, 2010 and written by Charles Arthur, that the Liberal Democrats, now in charge of Briton's government, are moving to "revive a plan to store every email, webpage visit and phone call made in the UK." Interestingly, moving away from massive information storage efforts was a pledge made by the Liberal Democrats during the recent elections.
According to The Guardian, "[t]he interception modernisation programme, [originally proposed under Labour], would require internet service providers to retain data about how people have used the internet, and for phone networks to record details about phone calls, for an unspecified period."
According to the plan, "police and security services would be able to access that data if they could demonstrate it was to prevent a 'terror-related' crime." The program is, according to Briton's Strategic Defense and Security Review, "required to 'maintain capabilities that are vital to the work these agencies do, to protect the public.'"
The London School of Economics has estimated the financial cost of the program at £2bn (approximately $3.1 billion U.S.). The political and social costs appear to be climbing, as several UK privacy and civil rights groups have sounded off against the program.
***
The full text of the article can be found at the link above, or here.
Leave a Reply