Wacky Jacqui's stasi database

The Register reports that Wacky Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, is pushing ahead with plans to implement one of the biggest (if not the biggest) intrusions into the privacy of the UK population.

This batty "anti-terrorism" measure seeks to monitor all communications, including telephone, mobile phone, internet and email.  The claim is that content of communications will not be recorded, merely the details of who is communicating with whom.  But don't forget the tendency of function creep.

Lord West told the House of Lords yesterday the government is aiming to have the enormous database of communications and "black box" interception hardware in place around the same time as BT completes its 21CN transition to an all-internet protocol network [by 2012]. 

 Previously the Home Secretary announced that legislation to implemement the communication-monitoring system would not be announced in the Queen's speech in December, but that consulation would be held early in 2009.  It would seem that this "consultation"is unlikely to materially alter the proposals.

Quite how a database like this (one that will accumulate data on 35,000 emails every second; 18 million internet connections annually; and 57 billion text messages a year) can be used in any materially effective way to prevent terrorism is beyond me.

It defies belief that the HMG cannot find something better to do with £12bn than this ridiculous intrusion into privacy of UK citizens.