Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Facebook could be monitored by the government

Unsettling, yet not totally unsurprising, to hear that Facebook, Bebo, MySpace and other social networking websites 'could be monitored by the government in an attempt to tackle internet crime and terrorism'. The UK's Telegraph reports that


The Home Office is considering plans to force such sites to hold data about their users' movements to thwart criminals who use them to communicate.The information would then be stored on a central database as part of the government's proposed Intercept Modernisation Programme.

However, Vernon Coaker, Minister of State for policing, crime and security, has told MPs that it does not go far enough.Mr Coaker told a Commons Committee: "Social-networking sites, such as MySpace or Bebo, are not covered by the directive.

"That is one reason why the government are looking at what we should do about the Intercept Modernisation Programme (IMP), because there are certain aspects of communications which are not covered by the directive."

The news has outraged civil liberties groups who claim that the plans would excessively pry into the lives of law abiding citizens.




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