That Data Retention

Several sources have been carrying reports of the truly egregious retention of personal data that started yesterday this past few days. I’ve not commented yet, simply because what is there to say? I feel that I’ve run out of ire; nothing I could say expresses my anger and frustration adequately. Rather, I have been exercising my energies looking at what to do about it. Some, such as Ian Parker Joseph, the Landed Underclass and Obnoxio are going down the chaff route, hoping to clog the system up.

I don’t know enough about the systems being employed to make a decision about just how effective this will be. Various reports seem to be saying different things; not least, that the content of communications are not being collected something reiterated as an amendment on the BBC’s article:

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that ISPs would also be storing details of website visits.

In which case, this will not work. What the authorities are looking at, it would seem, is the interconnection between individuals. This is why they are so interested in social networking sites. I can see the logic, the interconnectedness of individuals will enable them to identify groups and it is this, rather than the content of emails and websites that is useful to them. So, those who suggest littering blogs and websites with suitable key words designed to deflect and confuse are also likely to be wasting their effort. I notice that Obnoxio has updated his post and linked to Bad Science:

There is one very significant issue that will always make data mining unworkable when used to search for terrorist suspects in a general population, and that is what we might call the “baseline problem”: even with the most brilliantly accurate test imaginable, your risk of false positives increases to unworkably high levels, as the outcome you are trying predict becomes rarer in the population you are examining.

Ben restricts himself to the maths and avoids the morality involved, however, it only takes a little common sense to realise that this is not about tracking terrorists, it is about control – it always was. Perhaps my main objection to the protest being carried out by my esteemed fellow travellers is based on my basic objection to all of this; who I interact with and when, is none of the state’s business in the first place. I don’t give a damn what justification they use or where the law came from. They do not have a mandate from me giving my consent; indeed, they will never have such a mandate. I object. I will always object, because my communications and networks are none of their damned business. Therefore, my efforts this week have been on how to avoid them being able to follow me in the first place.

One solution is to opt for an anonymising service. I just haven’t decided on which one, yet, or even whether it will be effective. It helps that my mail server is not that of my ISP and is based offshore, so if I use an SSH VPN tunnel, all the logs held by my ISP will tell them is that I visit the same website each time. Who I am linking to, remains obscured.

The mobile phone is another matter. I need it for work, and, frankly, that’s pretty much all I use it for. Skype – or similar services can be obscured using the VPN, I’m assuming…

I think I’ve pretty much got it right. I am on the cusp of my competence here; which is why I haven’t yet signed up to a service, I want to be sure I’m getting what I want. If anyone knows any better, then by all means tell me.