[NetBehaviour] Snoop software makes surveillance a cinch.

[marc garrett]

Snoop software makes surveillance a cinch.

NewScientist.com
Laura Margottini

"THIS data allows investigators to identify suspects, examine their 
contacts, establish relationships between conspirators and place them in 
a specific location at a certain time."

So said the UK Home Office last week as it announced plans to give 
law-enforcement agencies, local councils and other public bodies access 
to the details of people's text messages, emails and internet activity. 
The move followed its announcement in May that it was considering 
creating a massive central database to store all this data, as a tool to 
help the security services tackle crime and terrorism.

Meanwhile in the US the FISA Amendments Act, which became law in July, 
allows the security services to intercept anyone's international phone 
calls and emails without a warrant for up to seven days. Governments 
around the world are developing increasingly sophisticated electronic 
surveillance methods in a bid to identify terrorist cells or spot 
criminal activity.

However, technology companies, in particular telecommunications firms 
and internet service providers, have often been criticised for assisting 
governments in what many see as unwarranted intrusion, most notably in 
China.

Now German electronics company Siemens has gone a step further, 
developing a complete "surveillance in a box" system called the 
Intelligence Platform, designed for security services in Europe and 
Asia. It has already sold the system to 60 countries.

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