By Nick Heath, 17 November 2008 16:46
NEWS
The Lords have questioned the value of a '£12bn super database' to collect all UK communications.
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer asked whether, with three billion emails and 57 billion texts sent every year, it would be viable to realise proposals to keep email, internet and telephone data for at least a year.
Speaking in the House of Lords today, she asked: "Is this going to be the most effective way to fight terrorism given the estimated cost is up to £12bn?" and queried whether the database was a "step too far".
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Minister for security and counter terrorism Lord West of Spithead argued that such information was vital to protect the public.
West indicated the government was looking to have a database in place by 2012, saying it would help retain communications data as the public moved to using VoIP for everyday calls.
"This data has been used in 95 per cent of serious crime cases and helps to pin people down," he said.
According to West, the proposals will help make sure that police can rely on communication data to convict criminals and terrorists as society increasingly adopts mobile and internet communications.
"No decision has been made yet but it would be a terrible mistake to lose all this data and not be able to prosecute some very unpleasant people," he added.
West ignored the Lords' demands to reveal details of a recent presentation given to internet service providers on the database proposals and said the public will be fully consulted.
Comments
There are 8 comments. Join the discussion
1. Richard Davies
I like it...'the public will be consulted'! The government don't consult the public...they just take more and more money and throw it down the drain in hair brained schemes...a little like this one!
Why not intercept communications of certain individuals only etc. when they have evidence of law breaking in place.
The big database will not only cost a fortune to implement and run / maintain, but it will also probably be insecure leading to peoples personal communications being left in a taxi on a USB stick for anyone to read / sell or even worse...used for the purposes of crime!
What happened to innocent until proved guilty of something! If I'm innocent (which I am) why are my phone, text and mail messages being recorded / stored at a cost to the tax payer? How much will it cost to store millions of texts stating what time you'll be home for dinner!
In this financial climate its like a slap in the face that the government continues to waste our hard earned money that they have taken from us in tax.
You know I would find it amusing if some cracker type took up the challenge and absolutely mullered the governments IT projects such as ID Cards and Communications database!
2. Richard
It would be more efficient simply to "bug" every home in the UK:
Perhaps these bugs could be planted at the same time as "energy efficiency" measures were installed?
Thus solving the twin scourges of "global warming" and "terrorism"!
(Oh dear, I hope THEY aren't reading this.)
3. Simon
"... said the public will be fully consulted."
Which means - "we will say what we want people to know about what we are going to do, they can comment, then we'll do what we want anyway". And of course, what they SAY they will do and what they actually do will be different.
4. Karen Challinor
how to find a needle in a haystack the government way
gather every last wisp of hay into one gigantic pile and look at each wisp individually, all the while hoping the rate of checking exceeds the rate of adding new hay and while trying not to leave any unencrypted hay on the bus
cost - billions
how to find a needle in a haystack my way
cost - couple of quid
either use a metal detector or a magnet
5. anonymous
The 'Public' will be consulted as to their wishes - as in:
Would you like to blow into this machine now, or shall we go straight to the police staion now.
You can try to get the 'post office' to deliver your completed paper returns by the end of this month, or you can try to get 'our' system to allow you to enter them 'electronicly' by the end of the year.
(You will be paying the tax anyhow!)
There were lots of objections to the building of the '____' and we agree that we will not build any more (after this one)
We agreed that there should be a referrendum about the '____'
We did not agree that we would abide by the majority wishes.
6. anonymous
Sorry, This is Tuesday isn't it.. Wrong leaflet.
Yes, we do need a large system to monitor emails and other data transmission systems.
If there were such a system then it could analyse the emails being sent in bulk from various sources and have the malware and spam dealt with before most of us get our copies.
Then again, that would require the will, and ability of the legal enforcement organisations to deal with the problem.
Me, I get the impression that I should invest in hard drive, and backup storage facility manufacturing
So - did you spot any secret codewords in the message - and if so; Could you please tell me who, what, and when whatever I have inadvertantly instructed someone to do?
7. David Fletcher
I must be suffering from amnesia.
No matter how hard I try, I cannot recall the occasion when I was Fully Consulted by the government about my views regarding ID cards. It must have happened, because 'They' Fully Consult everybody regarding such important issues, don't they.
I hope I don't forget to attend the doctors appointment I made to talk about this problem.
8. Radical Meldrew
More power to the Lords for rightly questioning this. What planet are these paranoid people in power from? They don't appear to understand or even attempt to be human. In spite of severe public criticism, they don't and won't listen - they just become even more paranoid!