Home » 

UK ISP News Archives

 » 
Sponsored Links

UK Minister Calls for Crackdown on ISPs that Intercept Private Customer Emails

Posted: 03rd Mar, 2011 By: MarkJ
internet padlockA former UK Labour party Minister (MP), Lord West, has called for a crackdown on broadband ISPs and internet email hosting firms that abuse Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) style technology to snoop on private customer emails without consent.

In particular the BBC reports that some providers, such as freemail operators, have used similar techniques to inject adverts into private messages, which in fairness is also used to support the services "free" status.

Labour Peer, Lord West, said:

"This is something I think is important for the nation. Giving private companies the right to go and look into people's e-mails is something I find rather unhealthy.

If, as a minister, I wanted to look at someone's e-mails I would, quite rightly, have to seek the permission of the home secretary. But these companies want the right to go into people's e-mails and look for key words without anyone's permission."

Most internet access providers, which we know of, do not appear to be doing this. However, it is more commonplace in the freemail and hosted email industry. According to the Home Office, "[It's] currently an offence to intentionally intercept communications without lawful authority - this includes the interception of e-mails." In reality some groups have accused the police of being less than effective at tackling such problems.

The Executive Director of the Open Rights Group (ORG), Jim Killock, said:

"It's clear the police will ignore all but the most blatant abuses, and very few if any problems will ever get to court. A regulator is meant to issue advice, consult with industry and make sure rules are being observed: not wait until the worst abuses brings furious citizens knocking on their door."

The UK government is at least looking at extending their existing powers. Under the proposed changes the Interception Commissioner would be able to deal with consumer complaints about private companies. At present they can only tackle complaints against government snooping. Fines could be imposed upon those who flout the law.
Search ISP News
Search ISP Listings
Search ISP Reviews
Cheap BIG ISPs for 100Mbps+
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £24.00
132Mbps
Gift: None
Shell Energy UK ISP Logo
Shell Energy £26.99
109Mbps
Gift: None
Plusnet UK ISP Logo
Plusnet £27.99
145Mbps
Gift: None
Zen Internet UK ISP Logo
Zen Internet £28.00 - 35.00
100Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Cheapest ISPs for 100Mbps+
Gigaclear UK ISP Logo
Gigaclear £15.00
150Mbps
Gift: None
YouFibre UK ISP Logo
YouFibre £19.99
150Mbps
Gift: None
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
BeFibre UK ISP Logo
BeFibre £21.00
150Mbps
Gift: £25 Love2Shop Card
Hey! Broadband UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Sponsored Links
The Top 15 Category Tags
  1. FTTP (5467)
  2. BT (3505)
  3. Politics (2523)
  4. Openreach (2290)
  5. Business (2251)
  6. Building Digital UK (2233)
  7. FTTC (2041)
  8. Mobile Broadband (1961)
  9. Statistics (1778)
  10. 4G (1654)
  11. Virgin Media (1607)
  12. Ofcom Regulation (1451)
  13. Fibre Optic (1392)
  14. Wireless Internet (1386)
  15. FTTH (1381)
Sponsored

Copyright © 1999 to Present - ISPreview.co.uk - All Rights Reserved - Terms  ,  Privacy and Cookie Policy  ,  Links  ,  Website Rules