Snooping laws caught in catch-22

Daily Newsletters

NEWS

ISPs want the government to plug a loophole in the law that lets government agencies demand access to customer data -- and which could leave ISPs out of pocket and open to prosecution. The trouble is, say legal experts, that plugging this loophole would be illegal under human rights legislation. Ian Walden, head of IT law at Queen Mary College, giving evidence to an inquiry in data retention by the All-Party Parliamentary Internet Group, said the loophole stems from a conflict between two laws: the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act (ATCS), and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). The Anti-Terrorism and Crime Act (ATCS) was rushed through Parliament in the wake of the 11 September terrorist attacks. In what was pitched as a measure to help law enforcement officials track terrorists, the government included a clause in ATCS requiring that all ISPs and other communications service providers retain all records of their customers' emails and Web surfing habits for one year for purposes of national security. "The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act lays down where interception is lawful, but it does not control access," said Walden. "While the ATCS in itself is not incompatible with the Human Rights Act, when taken in conjunction with RIPA it is." Even though the whole point of ATCS is to make sure that data is only retained for purposes of national security, ISPs say that once the data has been retained a large number of people have access to it under a large number of different laws. Complying with these access requests will incur huge costs, they say. One major area of concern is where defendants in a court case need to access data to aid their defence. Under current legislation, they are allowed access to communications data that has been retained. When ATCS comes fully into power, ISPs are expecting a large number of requests for data, which will not necessarily be made under RIPA. While RIPA includes provisions for reimbursing ISPs, requests made under the other laws could incur substantial new costs for ISPs. "You could not rewrite RIPA to say that defendants cannot access data for a trial. This would be a breach of the defendant's right to a fair trial under the Human Rights Act," said Walden. "You just cannot plug that hole. If you try, you simply open another." In written evidence to the inquiry, the UK ISP Association recommended a solution whereby the government introduce a memorandum of understanding with the agencies that have access to data, committing them to the use of RIPA procedures. However, said ISPA, the Home Office maintains there is no need to resolve the conflict. Some go further. "We want data access for agencies (other than police) to be repealed," said Clive Feather, Internet expert at Thus. Feather said it is essential that anybody who needs access to the data comes in through the same channel. "Trading Standards have the power to demand records under Trading Standards Act, and Social Security have powers under the Social Security Act, and the Serious Fraud squad under separate powers," said Feather. "None of them are required to compensate us for costs incurred during access." Feather said that Thus, along with other ISPs, already retains data for operational purposes -- in case a system fails and they have to restore it -- and they receive requests from various government agencies for this data. But when the relevant part of ATCS comes into power and they are forced to retain a whole year's worth of data, they are expecting a "flood" of requests from numerous agencies under numerous laws, and a corresponding rise in costs. At Thus, costs are expected to be in the region of £5m, while AOL has estimated its costs at £30m to set up the systems and then a further £30m a year. The government is believed to have estimated the costs for the entire industry at £20m, though its reticence in discussing costs with industry has exasperated the ISP Association.

Who's watching you? Get the latest on spy networks such as Echelon and Carnivore, as well as privacy issues for companies and individuals alike, at ZDNet UK's Privacy News Section. Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Go to the ZDNet news forum. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

ZDNet UK Live

I totally dislike pirating of works, I fear that artists will be deterred from creating works if they think that they are going to get ripped off....

27 minutes ago by GHar123 on ACTA stumbles in Germany

How dare film makers, artists or anybody that invests in creativity stop us pirating their works for free. I want to be able to walk into my local...

6 hours ago by JCB33 on ACTA stumbles in Germany

@GrueMaster. I prefer horses for courses rather than one size fits all. I, and I suspect most other computer users, do not really wish to have...

8 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

The product that scares me every time I have to use it is the Office 2007 version of Excel. The first bug that I found was applying the median...

8 hours ago by greycynic on Ten flawed products that derail productivity

Nice review and very informative. One thing I'd like to add (in reply to whs001's 1st question), the main reason to have the same interface from...

10 hours ago by GrueMaster on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

I'be been using Mint 12 since the RC came out, and I am far more happy with the Cinnamon, the Mate, and, yes (with extensions), theGnome 3...

11 hours ago by Frederick Wrigley via Facebook on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Excellent article. One small correction, though--although a fresh installation of Linux Mint 12 will, indeed, provide the user with a version of...

11 hours ago by bdantas on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

12 hours ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

12 hours ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material

For Gnome 2 die-hards, it is possible to add icons to the bottom panel (or top top panel, if you prefer) which provide the exact Gnome 2...

13 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Your comments would seem pretty naive and immature. Your 'solution' appears to be, "gee, let's all just give in to the hackers and give them...

13 hours ago by ramwellian on Cloud computing security: no more oxymoron?

"Interesting thought ... If you installed Win7 as a dual boot on a machine that previously only had Linux, and it wrecked your Linux installation,...

13 hours ago by BugStalker on Windows 7 Declares War on GRUB

This is an excellent summary of Ubuntu and Mint and the interface differences between them. Most such articles take a very partisan position for...

13 hours ago by whs001 on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

@ewallace. Not so clear. Anyone can obtain the text, for example from here http://www.ustr.gov/webfm_send/2379. I support ACTA so long as it and...

13 hours ago by Moley on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions

I think WinRT is fantastic. I just wish it was an option for people that didn't want to go through Microsoft's App Store with its attendant...

17 hours ago by 45283 on Why Windows 8 needs architectural hygiene for WOA

Nine people? £30m? Who's back pocket is that lot going in? And IF they say it is for new buildings, what about all the ones the government has...

18 hours ago by Burn-IT on Police set to launch three £30m e-crime hubs

Just to be clear, nobody knows what is in the text of ACTA, here is a photograph of the text of ACTA http://twitpic.com/8h9iju as submitted to the...

18 hours ago by ewallace on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions

Unfortunately main issue is that ASUS is refusing to accept that they make some mistake on this version of asus Transformer prime. 1 - GPS sensor...

19 hours ago by fgvrg56 on Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Wi-Fi & GPS problems?

@Marcus A fair question. Just talked with Archos which said it was working on an announcement for next week....

20 hours ago by Ben Woods on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule

Any update on this, considering the claimed "first week of February"?

21 hours ago by Marcus Karlsson via Facebook on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Snooping laws caught in catch-22

Daily Newsletters

Related stories

ISPs spell out true cost of data retention

Home Office: We got data retention wrong

ISPs revolt against data retention law

Ofcom to make it easier to change broadband service

Google set to build backbone of its 1Gbps fibre network

Post your comment

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in Networking

Ofcom to make it easier to change broadband service

Google set to build backbone of its 1Gbps fibre network

Nicira reveals network virtualisation details

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Test Analyst - Business Intelligence /Data Warehousing

Test Analyst - Business Intelligence /Data Warehousing

Technical MI Manager - 50-60k - Leeds

Inside ZDNet UK

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

BlackBerry Bold 9790

Case study: How cloud enables growth

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault

News & Analysis

Reviews

Blogs

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features

ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Infrastructure / Networking

Snooping laws caught in catch-22

Daily Newsletters

Related stories

Post your comment

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in Networking

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Inside ZDNet UK

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features