UK wiretapping figures misleading?
According to Statewatch, official UK figures on wiretap warrants are grossly understating a significant increase in surveillance activity.
Figures published by the Interception of Communications Commissioner for England, Wales and Scotland (no figures have ever been made available on Northern Ireland) for 2001 appear to show that the number of interception warrants issued dropped from 1,900 in 2000 to 1,445 in 2001. But the true picture is quite the reverse. Changes to warrants, "modifications", which previously required a new warrant have been excluded from the figures - when these are added it shows that the total number of warrants issued in 1996 (the last full year of the Conservative government) was 1,370 and for 2001 the total was 3,427. Moreover, even these figures are a major under-estimate due to changes introduced under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA). [...] "The official figures are a travesty. Figures are provided which show that surveillance warrants have doubled since Labour came to power in 1997 - they are now more than double the figures in the Second World War. But no figures are given on other major changes brought in under RIPA 2000 that would show the real extent of interception." - Statewatch, Surveillance of communications goes through the roof.Meanwhile, the new UK lobby group APIG has released figures claiming RIPA surveillance will cost ISPs and telcos in excess of £100 million per year.
The inquiry found the government had underestimated the expense of its data retention scheme, which could cost "well in excess of £100 million", and concluded that the government's approach is impractical. The evidence heard by the inquiry, and the opinions expressed by the many ISPs at yesterday's meeting, makes it clear that the proposed voluntary ATCS scheme has no hope of acceptance. ISPs say they want to assist police in their enquiries, and do so already on a semi-regulated ad-hoc basis. But they are unconvinced by the government case that blanket data retention is needed to fight terrorism and serious crime. ISPs also express concern about the impact on customer privacy on data retention. - The Register, Net snooping to cost UK taxpayers £100m+. A year.