huridocs-tech UK law on email surveillance

[***This message was originally posted on the "AMNESTY London Region" 
<amnesty-london@egroups.com> listserv, Mod.***]

Hi. I have received the following news item which should be
of interest to you all!!!!

Colum McAndrew
Regional Rep

> From NewsScan Daily, 19 July 2000 ("Above The Fold")

BRITISH LAW WOULD ALLOW POLICE TO INTERCEPT E-MAIL

The British government appears likely to enact legislation that would
allow law enforcement authorities to intercept personal and corporate
e-mail messages and would require Internet service providers to install,
at their own expense, surveillance equipment that would resend some of
their customers' messages to a monitoring center run by the domestic
security service, MI5.

A government official argued that "the powers in the bill are necessary
and proportionate to the threat posed by 21st century criminals, no more,
no less."

The bill has angered civil libertarians, and a spokesperson for Amnesty
International in London said: "What this does is contravene a large number
of fundamental rights in the European convention on human rights and other
international standards, which include the right to privacy, the right to
liberty, the right to freedom of expression, and the right to freedom of
association." (New York Times 19 Jul 2000)

http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/07/biztech/articles/19britain.html




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