Home Office spokesperson said: “With the exception of the retention of internet connection records, the Bill does not create any new powers. Rather it puts existing powers on a clear and transparent footing, and creates world-leading oversight arrangements.” This claim has been made by others, as well.
Home Office spokesperson said: “With the exception of the retention of internet connection records, the Bill does not create any new powers. Rather it puts existing powers on a clear and transparent footing, and creates world-leading oversight arrangements.” This claim has been made by others, as well.
Theresa May says that we are living in a new age of where criminals are turning to the internet to profit.
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More crime does appear to be taking place over the Internet in the UK. In a report on Cyber Crime by accountancy firm PwC, they singled out the UK as a particularly vulnerable country to cyber crime.
Roughly 55% of UK businesses have been a victim to economic crime in the last two years compared to a global rate of 36 %, according to PwC. Cyber crime made up 44% of all those crimes, making it the fastest growing area of economic crime.
Large corporations like TalkTalk, Sony and Barclays have all been victims of cyber crime in recent years.
Furthermore, the Internet has been increasingly used by terrorists to radicalize individuals and plan attacks. Radicalization on the Internet happens more frequently because there does not need to be physical contact, the internet acts an ‘echo chamber; and people have are able to access materials that radicalize themselves by being on the Internet, according to a report by the Rand Corporation.
Theresa May does appear to be correct in stating that technology has changed the ways in which criminals and terrorist are doing business, so she gets a true rating for this one.
This claim is a tricky one. First, it doesn’t answer any important question about the bill. A lot of the powers in it where not fully understood by the public. The argument that is being implicitly made here is that the bill is fine because it doesn’t alter the status quo rather just makes the status quo transparent. However, the question being asked is whether the government should have these powers and whether or not they already have them does nothing to answer it.
On some level the argument is correct because a lot of the powers in the IP Bill are powers the government had or were using in the past. However, there are several components that give the government additional authority (hint: which is why they need to pass a bill in the first place). The government has greater authority for “equipment interference” ie hacking in the bill. Additionally, it will compel companies to comply with breaking encryption, which is a pretty powerful tool to have, which is why Apple took on the FBI to prevent just that from happening. Moreover, evidence obtained from these techniques will now be deemed admissible in court. In the governments response to the committees scrutiny of the bill, they actually use the phrase “new power” to describe directives to Content Service Providers. The response said: “CSPs may be required to provide assistance to law enforcement and the security and intelligence agencies in the interests of national security through a national security notice. This will replace the general power of direction under the Telecommunications Act 1984. The new power will be subject to strict safeguards that will prevent it from being used to authorise any activity for the purpose of interference with privacy, such as authorising or requiring the disclosure of communications data.”
Because the statment is both misleading the conversation and inaccurate it gets a bullshit rating.
FACT OR FICTION?
Theresa May says that we are living in a new age of where criminals are turning to the internet to profit.
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Internet Connection Records are nothing more than just a modern itemized phone bill AND Internet Connection Records means the government will have access to your browsing history.
Here are two statements that are very much the opposite. Both are in connection with the Internet Connection Records (ICRs). Theresa May keeps using the comparison that ICRs are nothing more than a modern day equivalent of a phone bill, which the police can gain access to with warrants. This comparison rests on the reasoning behind needing the ICRs is that they help the government identify the person sending messages over the Internet. However, the comparison that it is just a phone bill is a little bit misleading. Big Brother Watch said: “The Home Secretary has stated that this data is “the internet equivalent of a phone bill”; however this is not entirely accurate. A telephone bill reveals who you have been speaking to, when and for how long. Your internet activity on the other hand reveals every single thing you do online.” The problem here is that people’s entire lives are now on the Internet. If a person has marital problems they may go on to “maritalissues.com”. If they are cheating on their spouse, they may go onto a dating website for that. The amount of information obtained from ICRs is far greater than what the police could ever obtain from a phone bill.
For this reason this statement gets a bullshit rating.
Internet Connection Records are nothing more than just a modern itemized Phone Bill
BUT, there is a second statement in relation to ICRs. People concerned with privacy like to make the argument that the government will have access to everyone’s Internet browsing history for 12 months. It isn’t that extreme. Companies will be required to store every website that a user visits, but it won’t go onto particular pages on that website. However, a lot can be obtained from the general website that someone is visiting, such as particular tastes, marital problems or financial issues. But, this does not mean that the government will be able to see how many times you have visited your ex’s facebook page. Like most things in life, the truth is somewhere in the middle.
For that reason, this one misses the bullshit stamp, but gets a rating of half true.
Internet Connection Records means the government will have access to your browsing history.
