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Draft Communications Bill (UK Gov) - black boxes

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kat:
Although this has been known about for a few weeks, the Queens Speech made the "Draft Communications Bill" (DCB) official in terms of an announcement that is it being put through consideration by the UK Government. In a nutshell, the Communication Bills framework makes it the UK's equivalent to America's CISPA legislation (mentioned in a previous post). Is essentially has the same provisions that 'require' UK Communication Service Providers (CSP) to hold communication data for a given period (12 months is cited in the draft), and that they (the CSP) are to be required to do this as part of their service provision (the implication is that refusing to do this could mean licenses being revoked/fines/criminal charges levied where appropriate).

The data being captured is demographic in nature, "who", "when", "where" but not "why" or "what". It's effectively 'metadata', and information that would allow anyone authorised to access it, the ability to mine and profile said captured data. An investigation and/or Probable Cause do not appear to be requirements for access. Nor is access restricted to 'authorities' (police, military, courts, medical etc.) but instead to authorised agencies ("public authorities"), i.e. anyone granted permission (presumably the Communication Commission is the watchdog for that, although the Interception of Communications Commissioner is listed as the agency of oversight of the system).

Some Key points;

--- Quote ---[...]
• An updated framework for the collection, retention and acquisition of communications data which enables a flexible response to technological change.
[...]
• Establish an updated framework for the collection and retention of communications data by communications service providers (CSPs) to ensure communications data remains available to law enforcement and other authorised public authorities.
[...]

--- End quote ---

Additional Reading

* The Draft Communications Bill (scribd) [scanned doc]
* Law Society's response to the Queen's Speech: Communication Bill [alt Bill source]
* ICO statement on the Draft Communications Data Bill
* The Queens SpeechPartial Background & Origins

* UK Counter Terrorism and Communications Data (homeoffice.gov.uk)
* Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) (mod.uk)
* "Securing Britain in an Age of Uncertainty: The Strategic Defence and Security Review" - PDF (Oct 2010 - direct.gov.uk)

kat:
And now, it appears the legislation is to be applied to the collection of data from overseas, the caveat being so long at they are not in compliance with the CDB (Communication Data Bill) [PCPro source].

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