Sunday
05Oct
Ministers 'plan to spend £12bn' to track all e-mails and phone calls
Sunday, October 5, 2008 at 16:04
From: http://news.scotsman.com/
Published Date: 05 October 2008
UK MINISTERS are planning to spend up to £12bn on a system that would track, tag and store the internet history, e-mail records and telephone calls of every person in Britain, it was claimed last night.
The proposal, which officials claim is vital to fight terrorism and organised crime, would entail installing hundreds of hidden devices to tap into communications on the internet and via mobile phone providers. A national database would be created to store the information.
A first instalment of £1bn has already been allocated to the Government's central intelligence agency GCHQ to finance the first stage of the controversial project, which will involve testing the process on two of the country's largest communications providers, rumoured to be BT and Vodafone.
While officials claim comprehensive monitoring of all private communication is vital to protect the public from terrorists and fight organised crime networks, it is likely that any attempt to implement widespread live monitoring would attract fierce opposition from human rights and liberty groups.
Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, said: "Any suggestion of the Government using existing powers to intercept communications data without public discussion is going to sound extremely sinister."
A first instalment of £1bn has already been allocated to the Government's central intelligence agency GCHQ to finance the first stage of the controversial project, which will involve testing the process on two of the country's largest communications providers, rumoured to be BT and Vodafone.
While officials claim comprehensive monitoring of all private communication is vital to protect the public from terrorists and fight organised crime networks, it is likely that any attempt to implement widespread live monitoring would attract fierce opposition from human rights and liberty groups.
Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, said: "Any suggestion of the Government using existing powers to intercept communications data without public discussion is going to sound extremely sinister."
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