back to article UK government starts public consultation on telco security

While the world watches Ukraine, the British government has quietly dropped a requirement for mass surveillance of UK internet users by their service providers. A public consultation on the Electronic Communications (Security Measures) Regulations 2022, currently in draft, revealed that a controversial plan to bring back …

  1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    It all depends on what are deemed to be "security critical functions".

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Trollface

      Don't worry

      Your intelligence agencies know. But they can't tell you. Be happy.

  2. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    "controversial plan to bring back [..] records monitoring has been deleted after pushback from ISPs"

    So, if I understand that correctly, there is no publicly elected official that found any problem with said plan, it was up to private companies to put the kibosh on another Big Brother tentacle.

    That says volumes on just how twisted Democracy can be.

    Sometimes, I think that a Benevolent Dictator just might be a better solution.

    1. Natalie Gritpants Jr

      Re: "controversial plan to bring back [..]"

      All dictators think they are benevolent. All the current ones are wrong.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Quote "The news will come as a relief to the public"

    I suppose it possibly would if any of the public actually knew that this regulation thing existed.

    1. Dr. Vagmeister

      Re: Quote "The news will come as a relief to the public"

      I thought this was already part of the Investigatory Powers Act :

      "required communication service providers (CSPs) to retain British internet users' "Internet connection records" – which websites were visited but not the particular pages and not the full browsing history – for one year"

      From the wiki page : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investigatory_Powers_Act_2016

      Does this proposed act go further, by recording web pages etc ?

    2. JassMan
      Trollface

      Re: Quote "The news will come as a relief to the public"

      Public trust in the government was completely lost when they said these sort of regulations only apply to metadata but then showed that they consider all data to be meta.

  4. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    An Honest Gospel Truth and Almighty Inconvenience if WWWidely Disseminated and Believed Correct

    If anyone browsing El Reg pages does not think, nor realise always that what needs to be done is always done well enough far in advance of any future facts surfacing to prove or disprove any current presentations being as a result of such as would previously unknown and undiscovered covert and/or clandestine actions, is easy prey to such administering systems.

    Question more about everything you are told, and much more than just what you may have previously thought or been told was impossible can and therefore invariably eventually will be revealed to you.

    It is how both machines and human beings are taught how to learn and prosper, is it not?

    1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

      Re: An Honest Gospel Truth and Almighty Inconvenience if WWWidely Disseminated and Believed Correct

      Fail to comprehend and master command and control of those lessons and forever be rendered slave and socket puppet to that which and/or those who do.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    A box ticking exercise

    This is a quote from one of the pages on the GOV.uk site linked to in this article.

    The draft regulations and guidance measures relating to network architecture are intended to ensure networks are securely designed, constructed, or (where relevant) redesigned, developed, and maintained.

    Wow, that's incredibly fucking vague isn't it? This has supposedly been written by people who know what they're discussing.

    It reminds me of large corporations where they will have thousands of pages of policy about "maintaining secure systems" or some other such wording. All it comes down to at the end of the day is enough people ticking boxes to say the criteria have been met, and then it's deemed to be acceptable.

    Another quote from the same page is

    For example, the technical characteristics of software-based 5G services will increase the surface area of networks and services open to attack

    What really matters is enough people having sufficient understanding of exactly how the attacks work and how to mitigate against them. You'd also want those people to be decision makers. Instead, we have a country (and world) full of box tickers...

    Essentially these policies are so loosely worded and so far from the core detail of what specifically the "attacks" might be, never mind how to actually prevent them. Meanwhile the aforementioned box tickers will be paid handsomley to "prevent" (LOL) such types of problem occuring.

    All in all, an expensive, ill thought out, waste of time that will have no real effect other than pissing money away.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: A box ticking exercise

      It doesn't really matter what the law states, the detail will be implemented by Statutory Instruments so they can be changed by government at will rather than by parliament that is notionally answerable to the ordinary citizen.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    STASI....Plausible Deniability.....welcome to 1984 and 2022!!!

    Quote: "....the British government has quietly dropped a requirement for mass surveillance of UK internet users ...."

    ....looks like a lie to me!! I suppose if it's true, then they are about to shutter Cheltenham and make thousands of snoops redundant!!

    Then again, if it really is a lie, what does it actually mean? Probably that "mass surveillance" is on going...but "plausible deniability" has now kicked in big time!!!

    Welcome to STASI 2022!!!!

    1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

      Re: STASI....Plausible Deniability.....welcome to 1984 and 2022!!!

      It does have one wondering and pondering on who the British government and Cheltenham think they are working for if they need to spy on every man and his dog ..... presumably to protect themselves from opposition or competition from the practically unknown amongst the unregistered masses, a permissible action which is not forthcoming from fellow members of pathetic official Parliamentary opposition parties?

      It is certainly not anyone/anything increasing health and wealth for the nation whenever the exact opposite is so evidently true.

      Such is either the present perverse masterplan or key players are totally incompetent and corrupt ..... or a fused quantum amalgam of both despicable possibilities.

      Is there nobody advising/showing them what to do, and what can be so easily done, with all these new fangled and entangling virtual tools at everyone’s disposal to halt and reverse the diabolical decline and destroy and root out the rot to its very core ‽ .

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like