UK govt mulls "Big Brother" monitor of Facebook

Massively popular social networking websites could be forced to pass on user details to a government database dubbed Big Brother by its critics under a new British proposal to combat terrorism.

The plan to monitor millions of people who are signed up to websites like Facebook, Bebo and MySpace has outraged Britons, but ministers said they were concerned terrorists could exploit the rapidly evolving technology.

Critics accused the government of "excessive snooping on the private lives of law-abiding citizens" and said the plan was proof that the government was eroding civil liberties by intruding into people's lives, the U.K.'s Independent reported.

Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker presented the proposal, arguing that the current European Union data retention plan, which requires internet service providers to retain traffic data for at least 12 months, did not go far enough because it did not apply to social networking providers.

Coaker told the House of Commons that the government was considering retaining traffic data for all instant messaging and communications on networking sites as part of its Intercept Modernization Program.

"That is one reason why the Government are looking at what we should do about the intercept modernization program because there are certain aspects of communications which are not covered by the directive," press reports quoted Coaker as saying.

Plans to monitor our phone and email records threaten to be the most expensive snooper's charter in history

Liberal Democrat

"Big Brother" database

"The government has no interest in the content of people's social network sites and this is not going to be part of our upcoming consultation," a Home Office spokesman told AlArabiya.net.

"We have been clear that communications revolution has been rapid in this country and the way in which we collect communications data needs to change so that law enforcement agencies can maintain their ability to tackle terrorism and gather evidence," he added.

A home office spokeswoman clarified that the policy is aimed at the “where and when” of communication data rather than the content.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, Tom Brake, told the House of Commons he found including social sites in the mass surveillance of citizens "alarming."

"Plans to monitor our phone and email records threaten to be the most expensive snooper's charter in history," Brake said.

The government has no interest in the content of people's social network sites and this is not going to be part of our upcoming consultation

Home Office

Invasion of privacy

Facebook's chief privacy officer and head of global public policy, Chris Kelly, criticized the plan as excessive and said the company was considering lobbying against the government.

"We think monitoring all user traffic is overkill," Kelly told U.K.-based IT website ZDNET.

"One of the reasons that Facebook has been so successful is that it provides greater privacy controls than any other [social-networking service] on the internet," Kelly told the site.

Kelly added that he was willing to speak to security officials' about any activity on Facebook.

A Facebook regular living in London told AlArabiya.net she thought the plan was ridiculous and blasted it as an invasion of privacy.

"I am not worried about anyone checking on me because I know there is nothing wrong with what I am doing," Layla Mohammad, a 28-year-old Muslim, told AlArabiya.net. "But it feels like an invasion of personal privacy and I am totally against it."

It feels like an invasion of personal privacy and I am totally against it

Facebook user