While the Communications Data Bill has scrapped, the one issue that remains live is the ‘resolution of IP addresses’ – particularly where mobile phone operators may have millions of customers using just a few hundred IP addresses. Deputy Director Emma Carr appeared on the Daily Politics yesterday to discuss the issue. An IP address is (put simply) the address you access the internet through (although ways of masking this are nothing new nor particularly technically challenging). We think it reasonable … →
What’s in an IP address?
May 8, 2013
Posted in CCDP, Civil Liberties, Online privacy, Privacy, Surveillance, Technology
6 Comments
Patients win choice of sharing medical records
Earlier this year, we led the concern that a new NHS data sharing plan would see every patient’s medical records uploaded to a new information system without the right to opt-out. We warned at the time that patient records would be out of patient control. On Friday, the Secretary of State confirmed that this will not be the case. We have worked closely with MedConfidential and Privacy International to ensure this and it is another victory for Big Brother Watch … →
The taxman wants to HMRC who you’ve been calling
April 23, 2013
Posted in CCDP, Civil Liberties, Communications Data Bill, Internet freedom, Surveillance, Technology
2 Comments
Under the (brilliant) headline ‘We’re Under Atax’ the Sun exclusively reveals today reveals the extent of the taxman’s snooping. As our Freedom of Information request shows, Between 2009 and 2011, HRMC made 41,351 snooping requests for details of phone calls and mobile texts. The only police forces to make more requests in the same period were the Metropolitan police and Merseyside police. Given how often these powers are being used by HMRC, it’s strange that nobody has mentioned the Government’s … →
Google fined $189k by Hamburg DPA
Following the news that Google has been fined 145,000 euros ($189,230) for what Hamburg data regulator Johannes Caspar called “one of the biggest data protection rules violations known” please find below a statement from Big Brother Watch. Nick Pickles, director of privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch, said: “This has rightly been described as one of the biggest data protection breaches ever. Yet again Google has played fast and loose with people’s personal information, but there is a real … →
Experts say drop web snooping plans
April 22, 2013
Posted in CCDP, Civil Liberties, Communications Data Bill, Internet freedom, Online privacy
6 Comments
Today’s Times newspaper leads with an important development on the Communications Data Bill. A group of ten leading academics and computer science experts have added their voices to the growing chorus of objection over the bill, far beyond the scope of merely tinkering with the drafted legislation. This follows the news that the Home Office faces legal action as it tries to keep secret a key part of the snooping plan, the so-called ‘request filter’ – or as we call … →
Small bloggers good, small newspapers bad
The latest twist in the Leveson saga is the Government’s proposed amendments to protect ‘small scale bloggers’. We previously warned the drafting meant groups like Big Brother Watch could be covered, along with websites like ConHome and Mumsnet. The amendment makes clear if you’re a multi-author blog with a turnover below £2m, you won’t be considered a ‘relevant publisher’ for the purposes of exemplary damages and cost protections. This is an important clarification. (Although the bill does still appear to … →
Communications data, North Korea style
April 19, 2013
Posted in CCDP, Communications Data Bill, International, Internet freedom, Online privacy, Privacy, Surveillance, Technology
9 Comments
One of the Prime Minister’s closest advisors has warned that the Home Office’s Communications Data plans to monitor email and web use could be “disastrous” and compared it to North Korea. As reported by the Telegraph, Ben Hammersley, a Number 10 adviser to the Tech City project, the told magazine Tank: “As a society, it would be stupid to build the infrastructure that could be used to oppress us. It just never works out well, because even if you’re using it … →
Form an orderly queue for snooping data
April 13, 2013
Posted in CCDP, Civil Liberties, Communications Data Bill, Councils, Data Protection
25 Comments
Today’s Daily Telegraph reports on the ‘rush’ from public bodies to gain access to the data collected under the Home Office’s Communications Data Bill. According to information uncovered by Big Brother Watch, “Council staff, health and safety inspectors and even Royal Mail want to harness the Government’s proposed “Snoopers’ Charter” to monitor private emails, telephone records and internet use.” As soon as the details of what websites we look at and who we communicate with online is stored, it’s a … →
Fifteen reasons the Communications Data Bill is the wrong approach
April 12, 2013
Posted in CCDP, Communications Data Bill, Information Commissioner, Internet freedom, Mastering the Internet, Surveillance
4 Comments
The Home Office still appears to be pressing ahead with it’s plans to monitor the internet and many of our supporters have asked for an update of what is happening. Simply, we do not know. The process remains as it began – closed, without public consultation and driven by desire to implement the same pre-determined solution we have seen for nearly a decade. So, as we are unable to say what is happening, we can summarise the wide range of … →
Can the Lords salvage something from the Justice and Security Bill?
Today Andrew Tyrie MP and Anthony Peto QC have published their follow-up paper on the Justice and Security Bill for the Centre for Policy Studies. It makes for harrowing reading. The Bill now heads back to the Lords today, where it started. The House of Lords voted for major amendments, introducing more discretion for judges and making the use of CMPs a last resort. The Government removed most of these amendments during Committee stage, in most cases by a single … →