LSE Launches Scathing Attack On Government Web Surveillance Plans

The UK government's ambitious plans to intercept emails, text messages, and internet browsing sessions in the UK won't work and exert an unjust onus on ISPs, claimed a study by the London School of Economics (LSE).

The government backed the proposals by claiming that the move would help security services equip better to investigate into crimes in a rapidly-changing digital environment.

Tagging the plan as “overly intrusive and unrealistic”, the LSE Policy Engagement Network asserts that the plan won't be useful unless legislation put in place to support the technology. It further suggests that the public will also need to be persuaded about the significance of such a monitoring system if they are to compromise their privacy. 

“With internet technology you have to collect everything then throw away what the law does not allow you to have. We think … that distinction will be impossible to interpret”, said Peter Sommer, a professor in LSE.

However, LSE's report prompted MPs and Lords to launch a probe into the Home Office's £2 billion proposal to gather details of various forms of online communication as well as text messages.

Representatives from both the Houses will reportedly use LSE's study as the basis of an investigation into the contentious Interception Modernisation Programme (IMP) in July.