Legal threat to online freedom

Published on Sunday 4 January 2009 21:04

CAFÉ owners who offer a free internet service will be forced to keep records of all their customers and which websites they visit, as part of tough new anti-terror laws, The Scotsman has learned.

The move comes as the government gears up for a major change in the law, due to come into force early next year, which will force major internet service providers such as BT, Virgin and TalkTalk to retain information on their customers' browsing habits for between six and 24 months.

Industry experts said the changes would have a huge impact on small businesses such as caf owners, pub landlords, hotels, guest houses and even libraries.

One of the main reasons for the new legislation is to prevent terrorist plots conducted by mobile phone and e-mail. It is also designed to stop other criminal operations being researched and co-ordinated via anonymous internet connections.

But critics have questioned the logic of the new law, amid concerns that determined terrorists would find a way of getting around it.

At present, many internet cafs and pubs offer anonymous browsing to their customers and anyone can sit in a pub with their laptop and connect to the internet.

The use of the pub's internet service is completely anonymous and anyone using the service cannot usually be traced.

Although small businesses may not consider themselves to be internet service providers, they do provide an internet service to the public and are therefore covered by the new law.

IT experts believe the new law could spell the end of free internet access in many pubs, restaurants and some smaller hotels. Stephen Killen, managing director of the Edinburgh telecommunication & IT consultancy Premitel, fears many small businesses will suffer.

"Most will probably withdraw the service completely," said Mr Killen. "Many internet cafs will have to install expensive new equipment to stay in business and will have to implement procedures for identifying customers before they use the service. It is therefore likely that they will have to increase their prices.

"Although the new law is designed to catch terrorists and criminals it will also affect those who enjoy the anonymity of public internet access for more innocent reasons."

Home Office insiders said yesterday the EU directive will be implemented into UK law early next year, in the hope of protecting the public and tackling the threat of terrorism.

"It's all part of the intelligence-gathering process," said the source.

Others say the new law is a step too far in eroding civil liberties and the right to privacy.

In order to comply with the new law, it will be necessary to have some means of identifying who has used the service and then linking that information to a record of what sites were visited by that person.

Italy has already implemented much of the EU directive and customers of internet cafs are required to produce evidence of identity, such as a driver's licence or ID card, before they can use the service.

But there are also huge question marks over how the system will be policed and how a website visitor's identity, whether they are buying goods on eBay or browsing on Facebook, could be tied to their real name. Clearly, a would-be terrorist is unlikely to reveal his true identity.

The driving force behind this new law is a European directive that requires EU member states to retain data.

The directive applies to both telephone services and internet access.

Data that must be retained includes information on the person using the telephone or internet service and how they used the service.

A spokesman for Virgin Media said: "We are aware of this. We are reviewing the government proposals. It's a relatively new thing... it's too early to tell what the impact would be."

BT refused to comment and said the decision was a matter for the government.

Steve Gold, technology editor with Infosecurity magazine, described the changes as a "can of worms" and said thousands of people would be affected by it.

"It's a red-tape nightmare.

"The logistics of retaining every internet transaction are a nightmare.

"If you are a caf owner or a company offering free wi-fi you must store the data for about two years. We are talking about billions of sessions to be policed."

And he pointed out that determined terrorists could easily circumvent the system while the man in the street would be hit by the bureaucracy. He pointed out that a terrorist could buy a pre-paid debit card, using it online with his anonymity guaranteed.

He added: "This legislation is a waste of time. It will make life difficult for the average punter but the people who really want to cause mayhem and become terrorists will just buy a pre-paid debit card and online sessions can be completely anonymous."

BACKGROUND

THE internet is often the only means of communication between terror cells around the world, and unregulated cyber cafs are a concern for the security services.

Planners of the terror attacks in the US intended to use a cyber caf in London as a smokescreen for communications about future attacks. And police also investigated claims that a France-based terror cell planned to open a caf in London to act as a front for their communications network.

The idea was that the heavy volume of online activity at the caf would bury suspicious e-mail traffic and make it impossible to monitor.

Maps and messages about strategy, funding and recruitment can be encrypted in chatrooms, porn sites and photos. It is believed much of the information about the hijack of the four American planes on 11 September was circulated this way. As a result, governments around the world have been keen to clamp down on internet cafs.