Facebook, Bebo and MySpace 'to be monitored by security services'

Facebook, Bebo and MySpace 'to be monitored by security services' - Times Online
March 25, 2009

The private correspondence of millions of people who use social networking sites could be tracked and saved on a “big brother” database, under new plans being drawn up by the UK government.

Ministers revealed yesterday that they were considering policing messages sent via sites such as MySpace and Facebook, alongside plans to store information about every phone call, e-mail and internet visit made by everyone in the United Kingdom.

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The government insists that the contents of each message would not be collected, but that the data on exactly who each person had corresponded with would be tracked and eventually logged on the database.

The move has been met with fierce criticism. Liberal Democrats Home Affairs Spokesman said: “"We need complete clarity from the Government over what data they will retain and how it will be kept secure.

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Rik Ferguson, a security expert at Trend Micro, the internet security firm, said: “The Home Office insists that this information is vital for fighting crime and terrorism; but is this legislation really going to be effective against the people at whom it is supposedly aimed?

“If national governments and law enforcement organisations truly believe that online criminals and international terrorists don’t know how to hide their online traces, then we have a bigger problem than we thought.”

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I thought our government was bad about crap like this, but these moves are completely unacceptable.

Harry Guerrilla said:

I thought our government was bad about crap like this, but these moves are completely unacceptable.

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It's stories like this that make me happy that I live in the US. A lot of people here take our rights for granted.

It's sad to see that the security paranoia following the war on terror has given politicians a free hand to escalate the violations of civil freedoms.

It's like that movie V for Vendetta... soon you'll all have a curfew and won't get to eat real bread to butter anymore.

I am not trying to be an apologist on part of the Government.. but...

Whatever you put on a social networking site is the same as walking down an international street.... if you are carrying a large sign that says "I'm going to explode Parliament" then you're going to get nagged.

Orius said:

It's sad to see that the security paranoia following the war on terror has given politicians a free hand to escalate the violations of civil freedoms.

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There are two excuses for civil liberty violations which are far more prevalent and far more effective than anything eminating from the War on Terror.

The first is 'safety of children.' Protecting kids has been used as an excuse to implement so many laws we could barely count them... including bans on smoking, mandate seat belt laws, helmet laws, child safety seat laws (which have directly led to an increase in babies left in cars), bans on cell phone usage while driving in school zones, swimming pool restrictions, diving board bans... the list goes on and on and on.

The second is overall public safety, which has led to those omnipresent security cameras. It's funny that some folks in the UK are in an absolute uproar about Google street view, while most of us are unknowingly filmed dozens, if not hundreds of times each day while driving, walking down the street, going in and out of businesses... etc.

:shock:

I think the laws arise from the UK being a much smaller place but with a higher population density. If you compare it to somewhere like Tokyo, the biggest city in the world, there are similar controls. The smaller the space, and the more people, the more controls and rules seem to be in place in order to maintain order and governance. And also, the smaller space allows monitoring technology to be more widespread. Somewhere like the U.S. is huge and it would just be unfeasible to monitor everyone, everywhere, at all times.

I think Facebook and Myspace being monitored is naturally the next step in these social networking sites. They've become so large and contain such precious data on the users that it would be impossible to overlook by prying governments. It is the perfect place to gather intelligence on people without anyone knowing, and frankly, I don't think Facebook's privacy policy is going to last very long. It's already beginning to sell out to the global corporate network by mining consumer data. At the right price, I'm sure government could get a peak as well.

People should be under no delusion about internet security. It's still wide open and anyone can find your info. Don't put anything online that you don't want people finding out. I've always been amazed at how many people post their real birthdate, including the year, in profile information... their full name, even their address, their resume, their photos, personal stories/anecdotes, etc. While a lot of it is just for innocent social networking, or even career/professionalism, it's still a big risk.

You would never hand out pieces of paper to random people in person showing all your personal details, yet when confronted with an internet form that tells you to enter your birthdate, full name (including middle name), postal code, phone number, etc., so many people just do it without thinking twice. I think this is the central problem, and not government. Government will always, in its very nature, want more power... but people using the internet without watching what they are doing are making it too easy.

This just sounds fake to me. How is the British government planning on intercepting every single message sent via any social network? Is fb going to allow them to do that?

Oh noes, now my government is going to know the answers to the quiz my friends sent me, "Which Muppet Are You?"

I'm joking, but I'm also not. The inernet, regardless of the government's snooping ambitions, has always been an entirely public arena.

If you don't want something to become public, don't put it on the internet. Anywhere. Period. Behave as you would if your mom were reading every word you were writing. It amazes me how people in this day and age can still be confused by that.

Orius said:

I think the laws arise from the UK being a much smaller place but with a higher population density. If you compare it to somewhere like Tokyo, the biggest city in the world, there are similar controls. The smaller the space, and the more people, the more controls and rules seem to be in place in order to maintain order and governance. And also, the smaller space allows monitoring technology to be more widespread. Somewhere like the U.S. is huge and it would just be unfeasible to monitor everyone, everywhere, at all times.

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I overall see the point of the spaceopulation ratio as you are setting it, however I also never underestimate the will of those who would "supervise" citizens using high tech means such as security cams, red-light cameras, etc. I am playing devil's advocate here, but I think it is a mistake to take anything for granted when dealing with those who support the nanny state.