UK Police set to step up hacking of computers
The Times reports that Home Office has quietly adopted a new plan to allow police across Britain routinely to hack into people’s personal computers without a warrant.
The move, which follows a decision by the European Union’s council of ministers in Brussels, has angered civil liberties groups and opposition MPs. They described it as a sinister extension of the surveillance state which drives “a coach and horses” through privacy laws.
The hacking is known as “remote searching”. It allows police or MI5 officers who may be hundreds of miles away to examine covertly the hard drive of someone’s PC at his home, office or hotel room. Material gathered in this way includes the content of all e-mails, web-browsing habits and instant messaging.
Under the Brussels edict, police across the EU have been given the green light to expand the implementation of a rarely used power involving warrantless intrusive surveillance of private property. The strategy will allow French, German and other EU forces to ask British officers to hack into someone’s UK computer and pass over any material gleaned.
A remote search can be granted if a senior officer says he “believes” that it is “proportionate” and necessary to prevent or detect serious crime — defined as any offence attracting a jail sentence of more than three years.
UPDATE:
The Home Office has denied it has made any change to rules governing how police can remotely snoop on people’s computers. Any such remote hack – which normally requires physical access to a computer or network or the use of a key-logging virus – is governed by Ripa – and the rules have not changed.
A spokesman for the Home Office informs us that UK police can already snoop – but these activities are governed by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act and the Surveillance Commissioner. He said changes had been proposed at the last Interior Ministers’ meeting, but nothing has happened since.
Tags: Government, hacking
January 5th, 2009 at 10:44
I did a post too. http://bit.ly/Q2dN
Thanks!
Phil
—
January 13th, 2009 at 22:06
[...] Home Office recently said it was working with the European Parliament on plans to extend police powers to conduct remote searches of computers. UK police already have [...]