What to expect from Theresa May’s new Surveillance Bill AKA Spy Bill

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Yesterday Home Secretary Theresa May revealed her plans to fight crime and terror through a new surveillance law. The law will track the internet activity of everyone in the UK and all data will be stored for at least a year by service providers. This will allow the police and intelligence officers to check what sites people have visited anytime and without a warrant.

This bill will bring Britain in to the “digital age” according to May, as it will make “provision for the retention of internet connection records (ICRs) in order for law enforcement to identify the communications service to which a device has connected. This will restore capabilities that have been lost as a result of changes in the way people communicate.”

May hopes to bring together all the powers already available to law enforcements and intelligence agencies to obtain communications. This will also allow the state to hack devices and run operations to sweep up large amounts of data through the internet. This is the exact activity that was uncovered by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

So other than keeping a log of everyones browser activities, what else can we expect from the controversial Spy Bill:

• A panel of judges will have the power to block spying operations
• It will be a criminal offence to “knowingly or recklessly obtaining communications data from a telecommunications operator without lawful authority”
• Local councils will retain some investigatory powers
• The Wilson doctrine - preventing surveillance of Parliamentarians' communications - to be written into law
• Journalistic sources can’t be accessed without authorisation of a judge
• UK companies will be expected to help agencies hack devices and acquire information

Some have hailed the bill as a necessity to protect against crime, but others have warned about the unforgivable intrusion on the UK citizens personal information. Where do you stand?

Will Russia Commit The Ultimate Hack?

Image credit: Gizmodo

Russia’s relationship with the rest of the Western world has been tense for quite a long time and recently they’ve done nothing easy concerns. A report from the New York Times states that Russia could be developing plans to sever key internet communications, which has sparked fresh worries and unrest throughout Europe and North America. 

The article reports that there has been a spike in Russian naval activity near the locations of undersea cables. Various military sources are concerned that Russia could sever these connections in future wars. The cables are vital to the internet’s daily running and carry huge amounts of data between continents. 

There are many thousands of miles of these cables under the world’s ocean, some in incredibly hard to reach areas. Would this be the ultimate hack? Is it even possible to bring down a country’s internet communications? 

Speaking to the BBC, Keir Giles from think tank Chatham House said “I very much doubt that anyone would think of cutting off the US. It is only going to work in locations where the internet geography is going to create a vulnerability in communications.” There are simply too many connections going in and out of the US to bring down the country’s entire system, however Mr Giles added that there are parts of the world where Russia could be successful.

There has been no evidence so far of any cable cutting, but there is major concern that Russia plans to halt internet communications in the future knowing that the West’s governments, economies and citizens are dependent on it. 

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