The United Kingdom has been testing surveillance technology for two years, tracking the web browsing of every person in the country.

For the past two years, law enforcement and internet companies across the UK Developing and testing tracking technology that can be recorded and stored Internet browsing of every person in the country. Of course, according to the information they received, they did so quietly and unannounced Wire.

Tests, they are carried out Two unidentified Internet service providers, by the UK Home Office And by the National Criminal Organization, they carry out under surveillance laws introduced in the country at the end of 2016 (which was declared illegal by the European Union).

Little information about experiments and technologies

According to reports, “Despite that National Criminal Institute (National Criminal Agency) Private data collection investigations have been carried out “significant tasks”, these procedures are kept secret. Industry insiders say no public announcement has been made about the test, and for security reasons it is not possible to talk about what the technology will look like.

The Intelligence Powers Act of 2016 (Intelligence Authority Act 2016), popularly known as the Snoopers Charter (similar to the Snoopers Charter), which involves the creation of Internet connection records (called ICR for its abbreviation in English) by citizens. These are records of what people do when connected to the Internet. Law Web and telephone companies can be forced to store their customers’ browsing histories for up to 12 months. To do this, they need to get an order approved by a judge, which forces them to keep the data at all times.

Two years for two people: Maybe this technology is not the best

Although there is evidence of what this law is and what it dictates, there are no details on how these tests are carried out. It is not clear what data is being collected, which companies are involved, and how the information is being used. It is learned that the first of these court orders was issued in July 2019, according to a recent report by the Commissioner of Investigation. This is the first time that ICR (or Internet connection records) have been tested with citizens in the real world.

Another similar order is known in October 2019. A spokesman for the Office of the Commissioner of Inquiry said the investigation was ongoing and that “regular reviews are being conducted to confirm that the types of data collected are still necessary.” They add it Once the results of these experiments are fully evaluated, a decision will be made as to whether the system can be expanded nationally.

Heather Burns, Policy Officer, Open Rights Committee, The UK-based Internet Freedom and Privacy Organization believes that the lack of transparency of the biggest problem sources is in addition to the slow pace of progress. The body, which has already been criticized since the law was announced in 2016, considers it “It takes many years to do a basic test, and to catch two KPIs, the system used is not ideal desire “.

Via | Wire