Surveillance Society : All UK email & internet traffic to be spied on & stored for a year

All data flowing from your pc on the internet, will now be stored and spied on in the UK from today, in the name of anti terror measures, reports Out-Law News.

Given most of the snooping done on the general population under RIPA & RIP(S)A legislation has been used so far to detect fly tipping or parents sending their children to schools outside their catchment area … it wont be long before we see similar headlines coming from the new arrangements .. (yes .. click on a map to dump a couch and the rozzers will be with you in a mouse-click ! – Ed)

Out-Law News reports :

Internet data to be stored from today

OUT-LAW News, 06/04/2009

Internet service providers will have to store details of web and email traffic and details of internet phone calls for 12 months from today as expanded European legislation comes into effect.

The European Parliament passed the Data Retention Directive in 2006 in response to terrorist bombings in London in 2005. It required phone companies to store records of where and when phone calls were made. Those rules have now been expanded to include logs of internet communications by the .

The content of emails and phone calls will not be recorded or kept, but the details of the communications, such as who was in touch with whom, when and for how long, will be stored.

The EU legislation allows countries to choose a retention period of between six and 24 months. The UK has chosen a period of 12 months.

Bodies which are covered by phone tap law the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) will be able to request a court order for the release of the data.

ISPs will be forced to retain data on what communications were made from which internet protocol (IP) address or phone number, what the destination of that communication was, and its duration.

In the case of mobile phone calls, the data to be retained will also include information on which cell within a network a call was made from. This will give authorities an indication of the user's location at the time of the call.

The addresses of web pages visited do not need to be stored under the new rules. For internet access, ISPs only need to store the dates and times of a user connecting to the internet and disconnecting; the internet protocol (IP) address allocated to the user; and the user ID of the customer.

In March, Home Office security minister Vernon Coaker told a Parliamentary committee that the Government is considering an extension to the rules to include communications sent via social networking sites like Facebook and Bebo. The Government will consult before introducing any new law, according to Coaker, and that consultation could address the retention of URLs visited by web users.

The extension of existing data retention laws has been controversial, and faced an unsuccessful court challenge by digital rights pressure group the Open Rights Group (ORG).

"This requirement, imposed on all EU states, is a serious erosion of our fundamental human right to privacy," said ORG executive director Jim Killock. "Privacy is recognised by European and British courts as a matter of right. The European Human Rights Convention states quite clearly that we have a right to a private life and correspondence, and the European Court of Human Rights has stated that traffic data is ‘an integral element in the communications made’."

The Home Office previously calculated that the cost of retaining all the records that need to be retained, including the newly added internet records, would be £30 million in capital costs and £16 million in operating costs over an eight-year period.

The Government is allowed but not required to repay communications companies the costs associated with data retention.

See: The Data Retention (EC Directive) Regulations 2009

EU Parliament : Governments should publish surveillance register

The European Parliament says Governments should produce a register of all organisations that monitor internet use, among other recommendations reported by Out-Law.com News :

MEPs urge governments to produce surveillance register

OUT-LAW News, 02/04/2009

Governments should create a list of all organisations that track internet use and produce an annual report on internet surveillance, the European Parliament has said.

The Parliament also said that users' online activity should not be monitored in the fight against piracy.

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted by a huge majority to adopt a policy statement on the freedoms citizens do and should have online. The statement calls on the European Commission and national governments to take action to protect free speech and halt the intrusion of criminals and industry into private communications.

"[We] urge the Member States to identify all entities which use Net Surveillance and to draw up publicly accessible annual reports on Net Surveillance ensuring legality, proportionality and transparency," said the statement.

MEPs said that governments should be aware of the problems that might arise as people's internet traffic is increasingly monitored for commercial purposes.

"[Governments should] recognise the danger of certain forms of Internet surveillance and control aimed also at tracking every 'digital' step of an individual, with the aim of providing a profile of the user and of assigning 'scores';" it said.

They should "make clear the fact that such techniques should always be assessed in terms of their necessity and their proportionality in the light of the objectives they aim to achieve; [and] emphasise also the need for an enhanced awareness and informed consent of users with respect to their e-activities involving the sharing of personal data."

The Parliament said that when it comes to ensuring that intellectual property rights are respected, Governments should make sure that the interests of business do not trump the rights of individuals.

In relation to IP rights they should be prohibiting "the systematic monitoring and surveillance of all users' activities on the Internet, and ensuring that the penalties are proportionate to the infringements committed," the resolution said.

"Within this context, [they should] also respect the freedom of expression and association of individual users and combat the incentives for cyber-violations of intellectual property rights, including certain excessive access restrictions placed by intellectual property holders themselves," it said.

The Parliament was concerned about the rights that internet users might be expected to give up in return for using online services. It said that governments should set limits on how much their privacy can be invaded in return for internet services.

"[Governments should] examine and prescribe limits to the 'consent' that can be requested of and extracted from users, whether by governments or by private companies, to relinquish part of their privacy, as there is a clear imbalance of negotiating power and of knowledge between individual users and such institutions," it said.

The resolution also called on governments to step up the protection of children from sexual predators and called on the European Commission to produce a policy to prevent cybercrime and identity theft.

See : The resolution

Scotland must lift ban on Class Action litigation as European Parliament supports proposals on competition law

As the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, Richard Keen QC recently said himself, its time for the ban on Class Action lawsuits in Scotland to be lifted.

Although the Dean himself seemed to be more interested in taking on the banks, the long standing peculiarly Scottish prohibition of consumers banding together to take on big business and companies that breach their rights or provide sharp practice in consumer services, should now be at an end.

Over to Justice Secretary MacAskill & Holyrood for some quick legislation to bring Scots consumer protection in line with most other countries … (not ! – Ed)

Out-Law.com reports :

MEPs back consumer class actions in competition cases

OUT-LAW News, 26/03/2008

The European Parliament has backed European Commission proposals that would allow consumers to band together to take action against companies that breach competition law.

The proposals echo some of the attributes of class action law suits, cases permitted in the US in which many people affected by a company's behaviour act together against that company and share the proceeds of a payout.

The Commission's proposals specifically say that they are not intended to create a litigation culture, but say that some action is necessary to allow consumers legal protection against companies which breach competition law.

"[Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes] shares Parliament's view that collective redress mechanisms are necessary to give consumers and small businesses a realistic and efficient possibility to obtain compensation in cases of scattered damage, and that these mechanisms must include appropriate safeguards against excessive or abusive litigation," said a Commission statement after the Parliament vote.

Parliament had received a report on the Commission's recommendations and backed them by 498 votes to 11, with 17 abstentions.

The Commission's White Paper addresses the problem that competition law breaches often harm massive numbers of people in relatively small ways. The Commission is seeking to punish those breaches without many very small cases having to be brought.

"The European Parliament confirms the Commission’s findings that many victims harmed by EC competition law infringements are currently prevented from obtaining the compensation they are entitled to under the Treaty," said a Commission statement. "The European Parliament stresses that collective redress – with appropriate safeguards – is necessary, and that proposals to help victims gain compensation must not be delayed."

"I am delighted that the European Parliament shares the Commission’s view that something needs to be done to ensure that the victims of competition breaches finally get the compensation they are entitled to," said Kroes. "I am particularly pleased that today's resolution is based on a wide consensus across most political groups."

The Commission said that victims of competition law infringements forego billions of euros a year in compensation payouts because of the ineffectiveness of the law.

The Commission published its plans in its White Paper a year ago, saying that in most EU countries there were barriers to consumers receiving compensation for competition law breaches, such as the abuse of dominant market positions.

"The recommendations balance rights and obligations of both the claimant and the defendant and include safeguards against excesses and abuses of litigation," the Commission said.

“Consumers who are victims of illegal activities, such as overcharging, misleading advertising or outright scams, have a right to compensation," said Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva when the Commission consulted on the proposals last year. "Currently, particularly where there are small scattered claims, this right is often theoretical because of the obstacles to exercising it in practice."

"There is a justice gap, a welfare gap and there are black holes in our redress system that is leaving consumers with nowhere to go. The present situation is clearly unsatisfactory. We must find a way to make the basic right to consumer redress a reality for more people," she said.

The Commission's research had found that privately brought antitrust claims for damages were extremely rare, meaning that companies that had broken the law were not being punished.

It said that it believed collective redress would encourage more cases to be brought.

It is now up to the Commission to decide what steps should be taken next to implement its plans.