International Law

Where are all the Home Office press releases ? 177 spin doctors but only 5 press releases a week ?

Spy Blog was trying to be fair to the Home Office Minister of State for Policing, Crime and Security Vernon Coaker, who was quoted on the topic of Communications Traffic Data retention, access and snooping, in this article in the Daily Telegraph, last Thursday

Councils to be given power to snoop on calls and emails

Councils and public bodies are to be able to access all email, telephone and internet records, sparking new fears over the surveillance state.

By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor
Last Updated: 8:37PM GMT 11 Feb 2009

[...]

Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker said: "It is the Government's priority to protect public safety and national security. That is why we are completing the implementation of this directive, which will bring the UK in line with our European counter parts.

"Communications data is the what, where and when of the communication and plays a vital part in a wide range of criminal investigations, and prevention of terrorists attacks as well as contributing to public safety more generally. Without communications data resolving crimes such as the Rhys Jones murder would be very difficult if not impossible.

"Access to communications data is governed by Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) which ensures that effective safeguards are in place and that the data can only be accessed when it is necessary and proportionate to do so".

This article relate to the Statutory Instrument bringing into force the second phase of the European Union Directive mandatory Communications Data Retention scheme (which this Labour Government was one of the prime "policy launderers" behind the scenes at the EU level)

See the Spy Blog article: Home Office response to Consultation on second phase of EU Comms Data Retention Regulations (internet email, internet telephony etc.) coming into force on 6th April 2009

Our reaction to this is the same as that of UK Liberty, who points out

OK, he either does not know what he is talking about or he is deliberately conflating intrusive surveillance (e.g. bugs) - which aided the convictions in the Rhys Jones case - with mass surveillance (e.g. recording everyone’s telecoms), i.e. lying.

If it ever takes the Police 12 months (the new Data Retention period) to start to use Communications Traffic Data to investigate the the murder of a child in public, then heads should roll, starting with the Home Office Ministers.

Keeping millions of innocent people's Communications Traffic Data for 12 months would have done nothing to speed up or assist the investigation and prosecution of the Rhys Jones murder case, as this relied on targeted Communications Traffic Data requests and narrowly targeted i.e. electronic bugging devices placed secretly in one of the suspect's homes..

Naturally, we wanted to check if The Telegraph was somehow misquoting Vernon Coaker, so we wanted to see the Press Release or speech etc. on the Home Office Press website http://press.homeoffice.gov.uk

However, even today, Monday 16th February 2008, this official Home Office dedicated press release website is still only displaying a measly 5 press releases published last week, with no mention of Vernon Coaker's remarks.

Full post as published by Spy Blog on February 16, 2009 (boomark / email).