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British Police Attempt To Sidestep E-mail Protection
British Police Attempt To Sidestep E-mail Protection
http://www.newsbytes.com/pubNews/118135.html
(09/16/98); 12:22 PM CST
By Steve Gold, Newsbytes
LONDON, ENGLAND,
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 .
12:22 CST
(19980916/WIRES LEGAL, ONLINE/)
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