MI5 have been collecting data from UK Citizens phone calls for 10 YEARS!

[Bittenfleax]

MI5 have been collecting data from phone calls for the past 10 years. Obviously they cannot hide 10 years of phone calls so instead of the calls themselves, they just stored the connection between people, which meant they where able to link connections with "terrorists". 

 

However this is a plan to stop the misuse of this data (and also the internet history which they are going to record). 

• Giving a panel of judges the power to block spying operations authorised by the home secretary
• A new criminal offence of "knowingly or recklessly obtaining communications data from a telecommunications operator without lawful authority", carrying a prison sentence of up to two years
• Local councils to retain some investigatory powers, such as surveillance of benefit cheats, but they will not be able to access online data stored by internet firms
• The Wilson doctrine - preventing surveillance of Parliamentarians' communications - to be written into law
• Police will not be able to access journalistic sources without the authorisation of a judge
• A legal duty on British companies to help law enforcement agencies hack devices to acquire information if it is reasonably practical to do so

Wait.. did I just see they will help the law HACK devices? I mean, that can be misused in so many ways and the "practical to do so" part will not be followed I doubt. 

 

Well... there is not much we can do about it. In the source, it also stated that:

Under the proposals, police and intelligence officers will be able to see the names of sites people have visited without a warrant.

There are also proposals covering how the state can hack devices and run operations to sweep up large amounts of data as it flows through the internet.

I kind of expected this. I knew that they would be watching people in some way or another. But now they just told people.

 

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34729139

[Sauron]

*insert fake expression of surprise and outrage*

 

this is the sort of "social" media bait that should surprise nobody

[DIV1D3]

Isn't MI5 a British intelligence agency of sorts? Is this not acceptable for a spy-like agency to do?

[yannickverc]

*insert fake expression of surprise and outrage*

 

this is the sort of "social" media bait that should surprise nobody

It's not really bait. You accept the terms which it probably is burried in.

[brownninja97]

i dont even know why i get surprised by malevolence such as this anymore

[Sauron]

It's not really bait. You accept the terms which it probably is burried in.

 

the bait is the news itself - not intentionally, but you know facebook will go crazy for no reason as usual

[JuztBe]

Feels like privacy is thing of the past. Not much you can do if you want to stay relevant.

//not specific to this case, just a thought overall

[CaptainPebbleDash]

The whole world is like this, unfortunately as one person you ain't going to be doing much to stop it. Just ignore it as best as possible and enjoy your life. No point getting annoyed over crap you can't change by yourself. 

[Samsterstorm]

I kinda guessed this had been happening for a while! They have the ability to and if someone can do something like that then they will!! I know I don't speak to any terrorists so I should be fine  

[Bittenfleax]

*insert fake expression of surprise and outrage*

 

this is the sort of "social" media bait that should surprise nobody

Indeed, especially from BBC. Because they don't twist things...

[Bittenfleax]

Isn't MI5 a British intelligence agency of sorts? Is this not acceptable for a spy-like agency to do?

Well, I guess they might gather information and someone else will act upon it?!! Not sure

[Sauron]

Feels like privacy is thing of the past. Not much you can do if you want to stay relevant.

//not specific to this case, just a thought overall

 

What we CAN do is avoid doing dumb sh*t we'll regret - if only the average joe would understand this simple concept. It's a lot harder to use information on you against you if it doesn't contain any compromising stuff.

 

Also, using encrypted channels will do the job in 99.9% of circumstances

[yannickverc]

the bait is the news itself - not intentionally, but you know facebook will go crazy for no reason as usual

Oh yea, I completely agree on that. The attention seekers on Twitter and Facebook going ham when something logical happens with "privacy" SMH

[Nielips]

Anyone surprised by this should just leave the internet.

[EChondo]

No surprise there.

 

You know what's really funny, if terrorists actually want to communicate it wouldn't be over cellphones(well at least the smart ones wouldn't). So I don't see the point in doing any logging whatsoever for "terrorist activities" on cellphones since the ones worth catching wouldn't bother using them in the first place.

 

Hell any mafia/gang doesn't use phones because of reasons exactly like this. It's literally worthless.

[soaringchicken]

great, sick.

[Real_PhillBert]

I'm glad to see the US is not hogging all of the freedom /s

[LlamaDom]

Not very proud to be British at this point...

[BuckGup]

Cool who calls anyone anymore? Also I don't think a Terrorist wouldn't use a landline or iPhone 6 from AT&T. They would use a new burn phone for each call.

[PlayStation 2]

Oh no, the UK is stealing our data!111!1!!!11!!11

[Fetzie]

Isn't MI5 a British intelligence agency of sorts? Is this not acceptable for a spy-like agency to do?

MI5 is the equivalent of the FBI. MI6 is the equivalent of the CIA and GCHQ is the equivalent of the NSA