IP: ****British Police Attempt To Sidestep E-mail Protection

["Vladimir Z. Nuri" <vznuri@netcom.com>]

From: Richard Sampson <rjsa@sprintmail.com>
Subject: IP: ****British Police Attempt To Sidestep E-mail Protection
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 14:15:28 -0400
To: "ignition-point@majordomo.pobox.com" <ignition-point@majordomo.pobox.com>

****British Police Attempt To Sidestep E-mail Protection
 LONDON, ENGLAND, 1998 SEP 16 (Newsbytes) -- By Steve Gold, Newsbytes.
Newsbytes' sources have revealed that the Metropolitan Police have been
holding a series of low-key discussions with major Internet service
providers (ISPs) in the UK, aiming to streamline police access to
e-mail and ISP user logs.

According to one reliable source, the aim of the discussions is to
develop a ground-breaking agreement between the police and ISPs so
that, where the police have reasonable suspicion that an individual is
sending or receiving e-mail, or downloading images that involve
paedophilia, then they can formally request full details of the
Internet user's mailbox and system logs, for example, from the ISP in
question.

While the aim of the project is to avoid the need for police to
obtain a formal court order to access the ISP's computer systems,
Newsbytes expects there to be a massive outcry from civil libertarian
groups, since the police order could well be implemented against anyone
with an account with a British ISP.

Newsbytes understands that an expose on the police plans will be
broadcast on Channel 4 news at 19:00 hours on British television this
evening.

Newsbytes' sources suggest that British ISPs are under immense
pressure to comply with the police system since, if they do not comply
and request a court order, the police could theoretically impound their
computer systems, effectively putting an ISP out of action, and perhaps
business, for an unknown period of time.

"While I can understand the police wanting to gain access to Internet
users' files who are accessing the Net for paedophile images, this does
seem something of a steamroller approach," said one industry source who
spoke to Newsbytes after agreeing anonymity.

Newsbytes notes that a major flaw exists in the British police's
modus operandi for the proposed system, since the e-mail file servers
for America Online (AOL) and CompuServe (AOL is the UK's largest ISP)
are held in the US. Only the company's sales and support operations are
located in the UK.

"It will be interesting to see how the management of AOL and
CompuServe in the US react to the news that they have to willingly hand
over user logs and e-mail files to the British police," said the
anonymous source.

As has been proven by various cases in the US, the normal legal
protection afforded postal and telephone communications by anti-
wiretap legislation is not automatically extended to include e-mail.

In the UK, it had been thought that the Interception of
Communications Act might apply to e-mail, but the law relating to
e-mail remains unproven, Newsbytes notes.

Reported by Newsbytes News Network, http://www.newsbytes.com .

-0-

(19980916/WIRES LEGAL, ONLINE/)


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