If that last post doesn’t make you wonder if George Orwell only erred in the year he selected for his title, read on…
THE Home Office has quietly adopted a new plan to allow police across Britain routinely to hack into people’s personal computers without a warrant.
The move, which follows a decision by the European Union’s council of ministers in Brussels, has angered civil liberties groups and opposition MPs. They described it as a sinister extension of the surveillance state which drives “a coach and horses” through privacy laws.
The hacking is known as “remote searching”. It allows police or MI5 officers who may be hundreds of miles away to examine covertly the hard drive of someone’s PC at his home, office or hotel room.
Material gathered in this way includes the content of all e-mails, web-browsing habits and instant messaging.
Under the Brussels edict, police across the EU have been given the green light to expand the implementation of a rarely used power involving warrantless intrusive surveillance of private property. The strategy will allow French, German and other EU forces to ask British officers to hack into someone’s UK computer and pass over any material gleaned.
A remote search can be granted if a senior officer says he “believes” that it is “proportionate” and necessary to prevent or detect serious crime — defined as any offence attracting a jail sentence of more than three years. (Source-The Times Online)
If any of my readers would like advice on securing your computer and/or home network against unwanted intrusion or wiping your hard drive to military specifications, let me know in the comments. Without knowing what resources the governemt currently employ I can’t guarantee absolute security, but I’m willing to bet too many of you are making it far too easy for the government to snoop on your personal computer.
Any trace of even deleted porn, warez or pirated music and movies can be detected by means available to anyone, let alone the government. Even if you think you have nothing to hide, even if you seriously think this will help the police nab criminals or terrorists, you should still be concerned over the rapid loss of our rights to privacy. Soon they’ll be asking, nicely I’m sure, that everyone wear transponding devices (”we can make it look just like fashion jewellery!”) so that the government can know where you are and what you’re doing 24/7. What better way to make sure those rotten criminals and terrorists don’t bother you anymore.
Sunday, January 4th, 2009, 10:36 am | 
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9 January 2009 at 11:31 pm
This would make the Bush Administration blush. So much for European nations being havens of human rights.
7 January 2009 at 8:07 pm
I have a tech blog and a blog for my job, both of which could benefit from
this information. So instead of posting these tips to this blog, check
http://jebersblog.com/ for a new post of tips added daily until I've wrapped
up this topic.
And thanks for reading.
Jack
6 January 2009 at 6:28 pm
Thanks I will do that today!!
Cheers!
5 January 2009 at 1:01 am
Didi, I'll put together some suggestions that I've accumulated and post them soon. Having worked on help desks for Gateway and D-Link I was able to learn a few easy-to-do ways to secure yourself against most all but the most determined snoop. Until I get a chance to post that, do at least one thing to make your laptop harder to access, providing it's a Windows-based computer. When it first boots up, tap the F1 or F2 key (which will depend on the brand you own) to access your BIOS setup. Once there, go to the “Security” tab and create a BIOS (sometimes also called a startup) password. Enter it (twice if needed), hit the F10 key, say OK and reboot. Now, when you first power up your laptop, before Windows even loads, you'll have to provide a password. This will keep your personal files and folders somewhat safer if you ever lose your laptop or leave it unattended but turned off. (Note: this does not provide strong security. The BIOS can be reset by someone with enough time to disassemble it, and your hard drive can be removed and accessed with another computer. This is just a basic security step.)
4 January 2009 at 7:44 pm
hello
I would love to secure my home network – and my laptop. Thanks 4 the info
Didi
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