Online Activities to be Recorded by UK ISPs, Draft Reveals
Let’s hope it will remain a draft
UK Monitoring Bill: Big Brother to Become Reality
If you were scared that your online activity was being tracked and possibly analyzed, let us inform you that you were very much accurate in your suppositions. No, this is not one of those conspiracy theories you hear on the news so often. The United Kingdom online monitoring law just got published showcasing some disturbing facts. The paper is 123 pages long and is actually a draft of the Communications Data Bill.
You might not be so happy to find out that from now, every single thing you do online will be recorded and stored by the good old Internet Service providers (ISP). What do we mean by online activity? Well, everything. From exchanging emails, browsing history, instant messaging to the most important use of social networks.
Nevertheless, campaigners have already started taking action, so the bill will soon be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by a joint committee of Parliament. Here’s what Nick Pickles, director of the Big Brother Watch campaign group has to say about the bill:
“The bill is as expected – an unprecedented and unwarranted attack on our privacy that will see the government track where we make calls, who we e-mail and what everyone does online. We are all suspects now. “
On top of that, this whole arrangement of spying on us will cost the government a whooping 1.8 billion pounds, the Home Office brought into attention. But the ministers are already on board with paying for the entire operation.
Let’s Hope the Parliament Will Reject It
At the moment, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) offers investigators and police officer the power to go digging around emails and browsing history but this is quite limited to a certain number of sites. Home Secretary Theresa May stated that:
“as criminals make increasing use of internet-based communications, we need to ensure that the police and intelligence agencies continue to have the tools they need to do the job we ask of them: investigating crime and terrorism, protecting the vulnerable and bringing criminals to justice”
thus implying the fact that the bill will prove to be beneficial to citizen’s safety. But won’t real criminals find other way to communicate or research their topics of interests. Will the government ban libraries as well or allow access only for those who prove to be mentally sane?
But, ultimately, the Parliament will decide whether or not the proposal in the draft could constitute a solution to the above mentioned problems. This situation made me think about the reality expressed in Geoge Orwell’s book, Animal Farm and 1984. The Internet should remain free and let’s hope such laws will never see the light!
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