Associated Press: Scotland Yard asks London Internet cafe owners to monitor their customers’ Web files
The Associated Press reports that “Scotland Yard is advising administrators of public Web spaces to periodically poke through their customers’ files and keep an eye out for suspicious activity.” This United Kingdom program raises the specter of the United States’ TIPS program proposed by Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2002. BusinessWeek explained TIPS: “The government wants your cable guy, meter reader, even your postman to voluntarily report any and all suspicious information about you to a new, central FBI database. [...] Let’s be real: Terrorists with half a brain aren’t likely to be outsmarted by the mailman or open the door to have the gas meter read if they have bomb-making material nearby. But ordinary people, who might be reading the Koran, will. The result could be a flood of unsubstantiated and largely irrelevant tips that overwhelm law-enforcement officials already mired in data.”
Reason magazine wrote about how TIPS was “An American Stasi.” The program was surreal, at times. Salon investigated and found out that the TIPS hotline was being routed to the TV program “America’s Most Wanted.” The public and members of Congress decried the program, saying it was a way for the FBI to get into people’s homes without needing to get a warrant and that it would pit neighbor against neighbor. The program was explicitly forbidden in the 2002 Homeland Security Act, which said, “Any and all activities of the Federal Government to implement the proposed component program of the Citizen Corps known as Operation TIPS (Terrorism Information and Prevention System) are hereby prohibited.”
A town council in the UK already set up its own “citizen snooper” program. The UK Internet cafe program isn’t trying to get into people’s homes, but it is trying to get the general public (cafe owners) to spy on the general public. There doesn’t need to be suspicion — the cafe owners should just fish around in the files left by paying computer users. The Associated Press reports:
“It’s not about asking owners to spy on their customers, it’s about raising awareness,” a police spokesman said, speaking anonymously in line with force policy. “We don’t ask them to pass on data for us.”
Still, he said, police were “encouraging people to check on hard drives.” He did not elaborate, saying it would be up to cafe owners to decide if or how to monitor what customers left on their computers.
Checking hard drives could reveal what customers were up to fairly easily under the right circumstances, according to Graham Cluley of software security company Sophos. For example, an owner could examine a browser’s Internet history or sift through the programs or documents the customer downloaded — although distinguishing which user did what might be difficult in a busy cafe. [...]
While the program is voluntary — owners can ignore police advice if they so choose — civil libertarians aren’t happy. One said it risked creating an atmosphere of fear while undermining Internet users’ privacy.
If you’re using a computer in a cafe (or even if you’re borrowing a friend’s computer), make sure to clear your browser and cookie history and download folder before you log off. If you’ve created files on the desktop, then make sure to delete them and empty the trash can. The files can be easily recovered if the trash can is not emptied. If you’re on a work computer, then make sure to delete any personal downloads or browsing data every day. As I’ve reported, businesses are using technology to track the actions of their employees.
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