UKNM: UK Internet Firms Aid Cops.

[Stefan Magdalinski]

from Wired News:


http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/17678.html


Am I the only person who thinks that the behaviour of the ISPA and the

ISPs involved is absolutely disgraceful?


stefan


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Did UK Internet Firms Aid Cops?

by Alan Docherty 


9:10 a.m.  2.Feb.99.PST

LONDON -- A free speech advocacy group obtained new evidence Monday that

Britain's online industry is secretly advising police on how they might

access email and other

personal data. 


Yaman Akdeniz, director of Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties (UK) said in a

statement that the industry group, the Internet Service Provider

Association of the UK (ISPA), now

"runs the risk of becoming the Big Brother Providers Association." 


The group represents 90 percent of all dial-up Internet companies in

Britain. 


According to Akdeniz, the association furnished the Association of Chief

Police Officers (ACPO) with a report about the type of information

stored by Internet service providers,

how long the information could be stored, and how it could be accessed. 


A disgruntled member of the ISPA leaked the police briefing report --

'Industry Capabilities of Information' -- to Akdeniz last year. The

report follows accusations from several

civil liberties organizations of secret deals between the police and

ISPA. 


Akdeniz said that the incident is only the latest in a series of

incidents that the self-regulation group such as the ISPA -- an industry

group charged with regulating and policing

the Net -- has been accused of secrecy and subterfuge. 


Last August, the group Campaign for Internet Freedom reported that

Internet service providers were attempting to reach private arrangements

with police. Last August,

Computing magazine reported that police were close to reaching a

'memorandum of understanding' with Internet service providers that could

enable officers across the country to

read an individual's email. 


In response to this latest report, the trade group London Internet

Exchange and the regulatory body Internet Watch Foundation issued an

official denial that such talks had

ever taken place. 


In January of this year, unsatisfied with how the ISPA was handling

approaches from the police, Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties (UK)

encouraged its supporters to send a pro

forma letter to their Internet service providers. Nicholas Lansman,

secretary general of the ISPA, advised ISPs to ignore the letters. 


Lansman then denied his comments to several journalists before finally

admitting "the words had been used." Lansman's deception did little to

convince Net users that ISPA

could be trusted. 


Tim Pearson, chair of ISPA, claims that reports of the talks between the

Association of Chief Police Officers and the Internet industry were

overstated. 


Pearson said the latest report was simply a briefing document outlining

the workings of the industry for the police. ISPA's current advice is

that emails can only be handed over

once a court order had been obtained. 


Free speech organizations say that the report points to a lack of

accountability in the self-regulatory industry. Organizations such as

the ISPA are accountable only to their

members, work to their own guidelines and policies, and have resisted

calls for increased public accountability. 


"For months, ISPA and the IWF have been denying that any secret deals

were in the making, despite indications to the contrary," said Chris

Ellison, founder of Internet

Freedom. 


"Finally we have concrete evidence that ISPA has been collaborating with

the police and misleading the public. It's about time they came clean". 


Akdeniz agrees about the lack of accountability. 


"The Association of Chief Police Officers ... has no statutory basis.

ACPO is a body set up by chief police officers. 

-- 

/**

Stefan Magdalinski                            0370 67 70 58

stefanisness [dot] org

                             icq: 5261825  

http://www.isness.org/house/boat                       **/ 

********************

UKNM is sponsored by Excite UK, visit us at http://www.excite.co.uk.

Email Khalil Ibrahimi

khalilexcitecorp [dot] com (mailto:khalilexcitecorp [dot] com)

 to advertise on Excite.

********************

Change your UKNM subscription use http://www.chinwag.com/uknm.html