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Two UK Broadband ISPs Trial New Internet Snooping System

ispreview.co.uk

111–120 of 241 posts

Re: Two UK Broadband ISPs Trial New Internet Snooping System

#111

Could I submit freedom of information request to my ISP and be provided with all the details they store about my internet browsing? Unfortunately BT are a private company so sounds unlikely..

Freedom of information is about the activities of public authorities, and that includes private sector bodies performing public functions. A person could access aggregate data and other non-personally identifying information this way but it would likely require a court to rule on the public activities of the company. This happened with privately run care homes which were deemed to have public functions.

However, you don't want that: you want a subject access request. This covers data from private sector companies too. Not responding is illegal and you can take them to the Information Commissioner and eventually the Information Tribunal.

This is the information commissioner's office's guide to making a request:

https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/your-right-to-get-copie...

Source: trained as a journalist and am quite good at media law stuff. Not a lawyer, but have had substantial training and think this is worth a punt.

Re: Two UK Broadband ISPs Trial New Internet Snooping System

#112
post #111

Could I submit freedom of information request to my ISP and be provided with all the details they store about my internet browsing? Unfortunately BT are a private company so sounds unlikely..

Freedom of information is about the activities of public authorities, and that includes private sector bodies performing public functions. A person could access aggregate data and other non-personally identifying information this way but it would likely require a court to rule on the public activities of the company. This happened with privately run care homes which were deemed to have public functions. However, you…

Unfortunately this won’t tell you if the ISP is storing extra data in compliance with the Snooper’s Charter because legal compliance can override the GDPR. Basically, the law saying “you’re not allowed to tell anyone you hold this data” overrides an SAR and a legal case to force compliance would likely fail on these grounds.

Re: Two UK Broadband ISPs Trial New Internet Snooping System

#113
What I don’t get is this: our governments - “ours” being the group of parliamentary democracies - routinely diss authoritarian ones such as China - and rightfully so - for their violations against human rights, among which that to habeas corpus, privacy, and reasonable suspicion.

To the point that we agonized over and sabotaged contact tracing apps, which could have helped a lot in fighting COVID, over claims to privacy and government control.

Now this shit. Fuck it.

You either are or you’re not. So if my privacy is to be made sausages, chopped and sold at the market for FB, ad-tech and spooks, then give me at least some upside! As it is, we’re just bovines with ear tags...

Re: Two UK Broadband ISPs Trial New Internet Snooping System

#115
post #113

What I don’t get is this: our governments - “ours” being the group of parliamentary democracies - routinely diss authoritarian ones such as China - and rightfully so - for their violations against human rights, among which that to habeas corpus, privacy, and reasonable suspicion. To the point that we agonized over and sabotaged contact tracing apps, which could have helped a lot in fighting COVID, over claims to priv…

The Chinese model works, and it's what every government wants. The rest is marketing.

Re: Two UK Broadband ISPs Trial New Internet Snooping System

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://iknowwhatyoudownload.com/ It listed a bunch of stuff that I never downloaded though...

You could be using a dynamic IP, this site links downloads to IP

doesn't that make the information essentially useless? iknowwhatyoubutpossiblysomeotherblokedownload.com

Re: Two UK Broadband ISPs Trial New Internet Snooping System

#117
post #70
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If I recall correctly there is a process called massive volume reduction by which you filter out “uninteresting stuff”. So all you have to do to avoid surveillance is to make a bunch of connections so the system gets overwhelmed and ignores you?

No. It drops the junk and tags you as an person of interest.

Then criminals should focus on what that non interesting stuff is likely to be and exploit that.

Terrorists (as well as a CIA director) have for years used a simple trick to communicate without leaving suspicious looking metadata: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2012/11/12...

I find this type of legislation works like DVD copy protection: the innocent and non tech savvy will be disproportionately affected and it won't do anything to deter those with sufficient knowledge.

Re: Two UK Broadband ISPs Trial New Internet Snooping System

#118
post #4

Is a datacentre considered an ISP in this respect? Between vpns and just remote desktoping into a VM, it seems trivial to circumvent to real criminals while being a privacy nightmare to the rest of the population. There is a probability 1.000 that this data will be abused.

1. Trivial to bypass: Check 2. Further degrades the privacy of the general public: Check Just another day in internet legislation.

> Trivial to bypass: Check

For you and me, yes. For Joe Public no. I think it's fair for people to expect a modicum of privacy inside their own home.

Is constant surveillance of a nation's citizens OK? I don't think so.

Re: Two UK Broadband ISPs Trial New Internet Snooping System

#119
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then why do people light british spy cameras on fire so often?

As someone who lives on the UK, I've never once seen a vandalised CCTV camera or even a vandalised road speed camera (which I'm given to understand is more common).

I've seen many of the early "Gatso[0]" cameras vandalised.

My understanding is that they originally used film, which had to be retrieved, so trying to burn it down with a well placed tyre had a chance of avoiding a fine.

[0] https://www.speedcamerasuk.com/gatso.htm

Re: Two UK Broadband ISPs Trial New Internet Snooping System

#120
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recommend reading this article, which includes leaked documents from GCHQ's Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group (JTRIG). https://theintercept.com/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/

That is truly nasty stuff. Stuff like this is part of the reason i try not invest too much of myself on the 'net and obfuscate as much as possible (i'm not really a marshmallow).

Are you also marshmallows 0 to 11? If so, that your whole internet profile right there.
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