FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2008, file photo, the logo on a BlackBerry smartphone is shows in Bochum, Germany. The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is promising a speedy browser, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone, the fruit of a crucial, long-overdue makeover for the Canadian company. (AP Photo/dapd, Volker Hartmann)
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FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2008, file photo, the logo on a BlackBerry smartphone is shows in Bochum, Germany. The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is promising a speedy browser, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone, the fruit of a crucial, long-overdue makeover for the Canadian company. (AP Photo/dapd, Volker Hartmann)
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Thorsten Heins, CEO of Research in Motion, introduces the BlackBerry 10, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013 in New York. The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is promising a speedy browser, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone, the fruit of a crucial, long-overdue makeover for the Canadian company. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
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Thorsten Heins, CEO of Research in Motion, introduces Alicia Keys as the Global Creative director of BlackBerry, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013 in New York. The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is promising a speedy browser, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone, the fruit of a crucial, long-overdue makeover for the Canadian company. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
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Thorsten Heins, CEO of Research in Motion, kisses Alicia Keys as he introduces her as the Global Creative director of Blackberry, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013 in New York. The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is promising a speedy browser, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone, the fruit of a crucial, long-overdue makeover for the Canadian company. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
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CORRECTS PHONE MODEL NAME TO Z10 INSTEAD OF 10 - Thorsten Heins, CEO of Research in Motion, introduces the BlackBerry Z10, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013 in New York. The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is promising a speedy browser, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone, the fruit of a crucial, long-overdue makeover for the Canadian company. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
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A woman uses a new touchscreen BlackBerry Z10 smartphone, put on display during a launch event for the new phone in London, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
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A man holds the new touchscreen BlackBerry Z10 smartphone, during a launch event for the new phone in London, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
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A man holds the new touchscreen BlackBerry Z10 smartphone, during a launch event for the new phone in London, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
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FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2006, file photo, Texas quarterback Vince Young celebrates after Texas beat Southern California 41-38 in the Rose Bowl NCAA college football game in Pasadena, Calif. The 2006 game was on in nearly 22 percent of American homes with televisions; the second-best number is under 18 percent. Now, seven years later, the Notre Dame-Alabama matchup may finally challenge that Rose Bowl's TV ratings record. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Erich Schlegel) MAGS OUT, NO SALES , TV OUT, INTERNET USE AP MEMBERS ONLY, MANDATORY CREDIT
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FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2006, file photo, Texas quarterback Vince Young rushes for the game-winning touchdown against Southern California in the national championship NCAA college football game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. Texas won the game 41-38. The 2006 game was on in nearly 22 percent of American homes with televisions; the second-best number is under 18 percent. Now, seven years later, the Notre Dame-Alabama matchup may finally challenge that Rose Bowl's TV ratings record. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)
UK: Surveillance devices to monitor Web traffic
LONDON (AP) — The U.K. plans to install an unspecified number of spy devices along the country's telecommunications network to monitor Britons' use of overseas services such as
Facebook and
Twitter, according to a report published Tuesday by Parliament's
Intelligence and Security Committee.
The devices — referred to as "probes" in the report — are meant to underpin a nationwide surveillance regime aimed at logging nearly everything Britons do online, from Skype calls with family members to visits to pornographic websites. The government argues that swift access to communications data is critical to the fight against terrorism and other high-level crime.
Authorities have been at pains to stress that they're not seeking unfettered access to the content of emails or recordings of phone calls, but rather what many have described as "outside of the envelope" information: Who sends a message, where and how it is sent, and who receives it.
A key challenge for the government has been extracting that information from overseas service providers — companies based in Silicon Valley or elsewhere that might not feel obliged to comply with a British spy agency's request. It was in those cases, the committee's lawmakers said, that the surveillance devices would come in handy.
"It is important for the agencies that there is some means of accessing communications data from uncooperative overseas communications service providers," the report said.
The lawmakers said the probes would work using "deep packet inspection," so-called because it allows those intercepting packets of data to comb through their content. The services that might be targeted by the probes weren't identified, although Facebook, Twitter, Hotmail, and Google Chat are all popular in Britain and were among the services named elsewhere in the report.
Britain's surveillance plans remain in draft form, and the report carried several critiques of the government's proposals. But in general it rejected opponents' claims that the surveillance regime was unworkable or oppressive, warning that the pace of technological change would soon "have a serious impact on the intelligence and security agencies" unless the new surveillance powers were introduced.
The report also appeared to reject suggestions that encryption might allow evil-doers to baffle government monitoring.
"We have heard that the government has (redacted) options in dealing with the challenge encryption poses," the report said.
The next two paragraphs were completely blanked out.
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Online:
Intelligence and Security Committee report: http://bit.ly/XTJm06 (PDF)
Raphael Satter can be reached at: http://raphae.li/twitter
Tags:
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