Originally Posted by BBC News:
Warning over phone calls database

A central database holding details of everyone's phone calls and emails could be a "step too far for the British way of life", ministers have been warned.

Plans for such a database are rumoured to be in the Communications Data Bill.

But Information Commissioner Richard Thomas said "lines must be drawn" to defend "fundamental liberties".

The government says the growth of the internet means changes must be made to the way communications are intercepted in order to combat terrorism and crime.

In his annual report, Mr Thomas addressed speculation about plans for a government-run database holding details of telephone and internet communications of the entire British population.

'Full transparency'

He warned that while "targeted and duly authorised" interception of terrorist and other suspects' communications could be "invaluable" - there should be a full public debate on the justification for such a wide-ranging database.

"Do we really want the police, security services and other organs of the state to have access to more and more aspects of our private lives?" he said in the report.

Later he told BBC Radio 4's World at One: "I'm not saying it's right or wrong but I think there should be absolute full transparency."

He said it may make the work of the police simpler, but added: "We do have to stand up and say these are our fundamental liberties and our freedoms and lines have to be drawn somewhere, and there should be a full democratic debate about where exactly the lines should be drawn."

He told the BBC he was not aware of such a database in any other democracy and said there had not been enough debate on other methods of collecting personal details - like the expanded DNA database.

Internet revolution

Speculation that the government is considering collecting the information - including numbers dialled, websites visited and location of mobile phones being used - has increased because it has talked about "modifying procedures for acquiring communications data" in its proposed Communications Data Bill.

Currently police and intelligence agencies can ask telecommunication providers for information on phone calls made, texts sent and internet sites visited.

The provider can query the request, which might then go to the interception commissioner and another watchdog - but under the new proposals, that right would be removed.

In a statement the Home Office, which did not deny plans for a database, said: "The changes to the way we communicate, due particularly to the internet revolution, will increasingly undermine our current capabilities to obtain communications data - essential for counter-terrorism and investigation of crime purpose - and use it to protect the public."

It added that as a result there could be "serious consequences" for police and intelligence gathering.

"To ensure that the agencies can continue to use this valuable tool, the government is planning to bring forward the Communications Data Bill."

It said a draft bill would be published later this year "allowing for full engagement with Parliament and the public".

'Orwellian step'

But the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats said previous examples of people's personal information being lost, showed the government could not be trusted with it.

Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve, said the government's record on protecting data was "appalling" adding: "Putting all this data into the hands of the government will threaten our security, not make it better."

Liberal Democrats home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said the database would be "an Orwellian step too far".

"Ministers have shown time and time again that they cannot be trusted with sensitive data. There is no reason to think they will be any less slapdash with our phone and internet records," he said.

Elsewhere in his report, Mr Thomas notes that he is serving two enforcement notices against HM Revenue and Customs and the Ministry of Defence after "recent high-profile data breaches".

They will have to give progress reports on what they are doing to "improve data protection compliance".

He also points out that 11 people and organisations have been prosecuted by his office in the past 12 months.

Story from BBC NEWS:
BBC NEWS | Politics | Warning over phone calls database

Britain is fast becoming the leading database state of the world and is becoming highly surveillance-orientated. Something needs to be done to roll back the state and it needs to be done sooner rather than later.

One particular aspect that gets on my nerves is this. Suspects in crimes have their DNA taken from them (I personally have no problem with this), but what I do have a problem with is that if these people are then released without charge or found not guilty then their DNA is retained on file. This is wrong and needs to be changed.
[Rep]

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We are frequently told how clever, how brilliant politicians such as the Milibands and the Balls are . . . how would we know otherwise? However, being clever does not necessarily result in being wise.

These and other such abnormal people are presiding over the implementation of policies which are removing long established rights and liberties and enmeshing us in tangles of imprisoning laws. They need to be removed from office, and the sooner the better. Can we expect their successors to be an improvement though?

Frankly, I've never understood the logic of keeping a database of the DNA of millions, perhaps even tens of millions of 'innocent' people against the chance that DNA connected with a crime came into the system. You have the DNA associated with the crime: you hope to acquire the DNA of the perpetrator(s) of that crime. Why do you need a database of others not involved in crime?

There are arguments against assembling such a huge and apparently unwanted database. First, there is its efficiency: despite new technology, it is so much lengthier and inefficient to search such an unwieldy and unnecessarily large database. Second, there is the cost first of compiling the database and then of maintaining it. Third, there is the exacerbating effect of improvements in DNA technology which will entail the DNA codes becoming larger and affecting both the efficiency of operation and, of course, the cost.

A few people with bees in their bonnets are obsessed with such a mammoth project are keeping it in existence. The worrying thing is that so many of those with buzzing bees in their bonnets are high ranking police!

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[Rep]

The Milibands and their ilk in the HoC rmind me of the "Stepford Wives" but obviously, male.
From school to university (politics) via a research position to a safe seat in what seems to be, rather too quickly, no taste nor feel for the rreal world, no experience of the real world.
I can't help picturing them in the political version of Harry Potters school.
[Rep]

Those who choose security over freedom deserve neither,

Benjamin Franklin
[Rep]

The media always bomb up these inadequate chatterers. Brown was presented as some major genius. Now we see what a bumbling tit he is.
[Rep]