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UK Communication Database: An Orwellian Step Too Far
Big Brother looks set to get even bigger if officials have their way and Parliament approves the creation of a communications database containing records on all phone calls and internet activity in the United Kingdom.
Figures estimate the number of text messages sent in a year to be 57 billion and the number of emails sent in a day to be 3 billion. This in itself raises questions as to whether the government could feasibly pull off an IT project on this scale, in light of NHS IT systems for England that are now 4 years overdue.
Nevertheless, the bigger question is obviously whether we should trust the government with that much personal information. At the minute, phone companies have to keep logs for 12 months which allows the authorities access to specific records if/when there is justification. Under the new system the authorities would supposedly still have to go through the courts to get access, but this blogger can see the line between government agencies being blurred and/or diluted much more quickly than between a government agency and a phone company, leading to a culture where more casual use of the system is the norm.
Even if (and it's a big if) we trust the government not to abuse the power, do we really want all that information held in a single place by a government that has already lost details on:
- 3 million driving test candidates
- 25 million child benefit claimants (all families in the UK with a child under 16)
- 7,685 Northern Irish drivers
- 40,000 benefit claimants in Yorkshire
and god knows what else (that only took a few minutes on Google and it ignores some cases I found that only involved local government).
Of course there must be a good reason why the government would propose this sort of plan; they wouldn't do it for no reason. The assistant Information Commissioner explains:
We are not aware of any justification for the state to hold every UK citizen's phone and internet records. We have real doubts that such a measure can be justified, or is proportionate or desirable.
Jonathan Bamford, Assistant Information Commissioner
So there you have it. I don't believe it'll ever see the light of day but the fact that officials are even contemplating it is slightly alarming.