The lawmakers, according to a February 2013 publication, will use deep packet inspection to spy on your Twitter, Facebook, and Google activity.
Deep packet inspection will permit the UK law enforcement agencies to log the details of almost everything that UK citizens access and visit online. It includes Web site domain names and details of Skype calls.
The Director General of MI5, Britain's domestic intelligence service, said in part:
"...access to communications data of one sort or another is very important indeed. It’s part of the backbone of the way in which we would approach investigations. I think I would be accurate in saying there are no significant investigations that we undertake across the service that don’t use communications data because of its ability to tell you the who and the when and the where of your target’s activities. It tends to be relatively reliable. It’s relatively accessible at the moment in a number of areas, and from our point of view it’s a very, very important capability.”
That publication noted that:
“As we have set out, the existing legislation . . . does not cover the problems of emerging technology, or provide the mechanism for asking overseas CSPs [Communication Service Providers] to retain CD [Communications Data]. Consideration must, therefore, be given to a new approach.”
That UK Publication recommends that the legislators “include the ability to instruct [Communications Data Providers] to capture third-party content traversing their networks using technology such as Deep Packet Inspection."
That UK Publication proposes to change the law such that Internet and broadband providers, and land line and mobile phone companies “have a legal foundation to retain data.”
That UK Publication says in part:
The solution the Government is proposing is to agree with the UK [Communication Service Providers] that they would place [black boxes] on their network(s) to collect the required [Communications Data] as it traverses to the end user. This is known as Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technology. The Committee took detailed evidence on this, focusing on the feasibility of the technology. We heard that DPI is certainly not a new technology, and is in use for commercial purposes already.
The 'black box' would also be used to collect data from overseas, American companies, including American-based service providers and social networks, such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter.
via Technology articles at Technorati http://feeds09.technorati.com/~r/tr-technology/~3/8SVOgGbbBeQ/