Email & Web Use 'To Be Monitored' Under New UK laws

[pris]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17576745

[lxskllr]

A few years ago I would have said "HaHa, funny April 1 joke", but now, I don't know. Is this for real? If so, I recommend taking measures to protect yourselves.

[pris]

Yup, it's for real. I thought it was an April Fool when I first heard it.

[lxskllr]

Anonymous, but NOT secure browsing
https://www.torproject.org/

Anonymous AND secure browsing, but slow as molasses in the winter. For real security you have to stay in-network
http://www.i2p2.de/

Anonymous, private search
https://duckduckgo.com/

Block online trackers
http://www.ghostery.com/

Forces https if available
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere

Not free, but very inexpensive. Email that offers server side encryption. They have a free service, but it isn't encrypted
https://lavabit.com/

Use software that respects your rights, and can be examined by other people. DON'T use "social networking" eg idiotbook unless YOU control the data, and don't use SAAS(software as a service(eg GoogleDocs...)). If you're sending your data somewhere to be processed, that means you aren't controlling it. That's manual spyware where the attacker gets you to voluntarily send them your data; ridiculous...

[sgreger1]

I love how they have been doing this for years but just now are trying to play it like this is a new law. They are just making it legal on the books what they have been doing for a while now.

I was reading the other day that the NSA just bought a bunch of new supercomputers for their "spy on everyone" facility off in the hills somewhere, i'll have to find the article. They claim to be able to monitor most things in real time which I find doubtfull considering how many petabytes of data are created daily. My understanding was that they intercept everything, but software automates what is flagged as important or not, and it sort of backs it up temporarily unless an agent requests a certain piece of it

[sgreger1]

Anonymous, but NOT secure browsing
https://www.torproject.org/

Anonymous AND secure browsing, but slow as molasses in the winter. For real security you have to stay in-network
http://www.i2p2.de/

Anonymous, private search
https://duckduckgo.com/

Block online trackers
http://www.ghostery.com/

Forces https if available
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere

Not free, but very inexpensive. Email that offers server side encryption. They have a free service, but it isn't encrypted
https://lavabit.com/

Use software that respects your rights, and can be examined by other people. DON'T use "social networking" eg idiotbook unless YOU control the data, and don't use SAAS(software as a service(eg GoogleDocs...)). If you're sending your data somewhere to be processed, that means you aren't controlling it. That's manual spyware where the attacker gets you to voluntarily send them your data; ridiculous...

All great resources. Using VPNs and other things help too, but I think in the end if the government wants to listen in they will find a way. At some point in the chain your data passes through unencrypted and they will just sit and wait for that.

[Ansel]

I figured they could/would monitor us anyway...

[lxskllr]

...but I think in the end if the government wants to listen in they will find a way. At some point in the chain your data passes through unencrypted and they will just sit and wait for that.

I figured they could/would monitor us anyway...

They may or may not be spying already, but it's very bad precedent to codify it in law. They absolutely shouldn't have this power, and giving them carte blanche fixes their tyranny over you.

[Ansel]

Well with the last government i seem to remember something about they gave power to local councils to spy on our internet useage so i guess this is an extension of this.

[Snusify]

In the UK they passed a law a few years back called the RIPA bill which was the first step. This gave the Police/Local Authority/Government Agency to monitor your emails without a warrant. It also allowed authorities to put 'black boxes' in the ISP's servers so they could watch in real time your internet browsing.

So this new legislation it just adding 'monitoring phone calls' to the mix. In the past they always needed a warrant to do this I am not sure if this is going to change.

As far as I can see they are using the old 'to fight terrorism and crime' etc to justify this law. In practice Local authorities have used this kind of law to monitor parents who want to get their kids into good schools.

A terrorist cell could make a VOIP call over a VPN connection and this would take the authorities 3 months to decrypt. by which time they may have carried out their plan.

[precious007]

Only certain people will be monitored, not the average Joe.

Imagine how many people live in the UK - they'd probably need millions of e-mail supervisors lol

[pris]

I imagine they'll use sniffing software to analyse samples looking for particular stuff that might be of interest. Unless you're on the 'well known to the authorities' list then maybe they'll keep a closer eye on you.

[precious007]

I imagine they'll use sniffing software to analyse samples looking for particular stuff that might be of interest. Unless you're on the 'well known to the authorities' list then maybe they'll keep a closer eye on you.

that's for sure

the title of this news should be -

"Your E-mail MIGHT be monitored" if you live in the UK

well to tell you the truth -

ALL email is being monitored, because Yahoo, AOL, Gmail and every email provider has access to your email (their server)

what's new?

They'll probably be monitoring suspicious people -

[pris]

Guess you're lucky you don't live in the UK then precious ;-) lol

[precious007]

:^)

lool