ISP Disgrace

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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 1:49 am

Interesting link, but in the US we have a similar system already, which was formerly called Carnivore. While it technically can only be used to monitor the email of "people of interest" there were some rumors out there that ISPs were collecting all of the information for all of their email.

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 8:11 am

If they're only checking e-mails, then what a waste of time.

If I were a terrorist I'd set up a web page in a non-western country with whatever message I wanted other terrorists to see loaded on it as an image. Then only those knowing the url would be able to see the message, and it couldn't be found by any search engines.

I believe that any security system designed by man will eventually be circumnavigated by other men who are determined or are smart enough to avoid it.

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 4:23 pm

^^^ I've heard that they set up a free email account and use the draft folder as a bulletin board. No emails are ever sent and they move on to other accounts on a regular basis.

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 4:52 pm

It's just the usual crud that the government likes to spout.

We don't even have an NHS computer system that works in spite of spending massive amounts on it, and the list of failed computer systems that the UK government have attempted to set up is endless. The foolproof identity card scheme was cracked before its launch, and it would be incredibly simple for a child to walk round this particular effort.

If you've ever provided evidence to the police of a crime, you'll be aware that they are prepared to spend quite a lot of time thinking of why they can't take action, so the chances of the government spending a vast amount of money (is there any left ?) on such a massive effort, on the off chance they'll find anything, is very unlikely.

It's simplistic thinking, like believing you've designed counterfeit proof bank notes. There's no such thing, as there will always be a factory producing them and workers who know how to do it.

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 5:13 pm

The thing that came to mind when I thought of this was how it's going to cope with the spam, considering how much is sent. Will it have some sort of spam filter, and if so, how easy would it be to disguise a real email as spam so it doesnt get stored?

Just as a comment on the BBC's journalism, I believe that where they say "details of every email", it's actually only the headers of the email that are being stored, not the text of the email itself. Either way, if you're worried about intercepting your email, there's plenty of free encryption tools that can ensure your emails are only read by the person who you're sending it to. See http://www.gnupg.org/ for more info.