Snooper’s Charter security breach – an “accident” waiting to happen.
The Snooper’s Charter, they aren’t going to get away from that name, is the proposed law where the Government seeks to legitimise spying on all our internet communications. They of course have very legitimate reasons for wanting to do this – national security, prevention of terrorism etc and promise not to look at the information of innocent persons.
I’m not going to go into the lengthy list of issues with this (list here). Except that is to say that one of my objections to the Snooper’s Charter is the fact that once the government has gathered all this communications data it will lose it. Once lost it will eventually it will find its way into the public domain.
“No no no don’t worry it will be very secure” says a government minister (I’m sure). “Oh no it won’t” says I, as sure as hard drives will fail or get left on a bus.
It isn’t just that the information will get left on a bus. Someone will hack into the vault where it is stored and steal it.
The latest news from the US is that some overseas government (allegedly) has hacked into the Office Of Personnel Management and pinched details of the entire staff of the US government.
Just imagine if this was the Snooper’s Charter database. UK government ministers would have details of their affairs made public, or at least placed in the hands of agencies that might make “good use” of the information.
Who will be the first to be blackmailed? When will the first really serious compromise of national security happen as a result?
This is just an example of a possible scenario. It could be information about you. No national security involved but quite possibly embarrassing. Maybe you don’t want the world to know that you buy women’s underwear for your own use, or that you are a trainspotter.
It will happen if we implement the Snooper’s Charter. It’s up to you to decide whether that is a good thing or not. I don’t think it is.
Snooper’s Charter security breach – an “accident” waiting to happen.
