The Interception Modernisation Programme (IMP) was a

UK government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...

initiative to extend the government's capabilities for

lawful interception Lawful interception (LI) refers to the facilities in telecommunications and telephone networks that allow law enforcement agencies with court orders or other legal authorization to selectively wiretap individual subscribers. Most countries require ...

and storage of

communications data Communications data (sometimes referred to as traffic data or metadata) concerns information about communication. Communications data is a part of a message that should be distinguished from the content of the message. It contains data on the co ...

. It was widely reported that the IMP's eventual goal was to store details of all UK communications data in a central database. The proposal was similar to the NSA Call Database ( MAINWAY) established by

GCHQ Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Uni ...

's American counterpart NSA and the

Titan traffic database The Titan traffic database is a database allegedly in use by the Swedish signals intelligence agency, the National Defence Radio Establishment The National Defence Radio Establishment ( sv, Försvarets radioanstalt, FRA) is a Swedish governm ...

established by the Swedish

National Defence Radio Establishment The National Defence Radio Establishment ( sv, Försvarets radioanstalt, FRA) is a Swedish government agency organised under the Ministry of Defence. The two main tasks of FRA are signals intelligence (SIGINT), and support to government authorit ...

. In 2008 plans were being made to collect data on all

phone calls A telephone call is a connection over a telephone network between the called party and the calling party. First telephone call The first telephone call was made on March 10, 1876, by Alexander Graham Bell. Bell demonstrated his ability to "ta ...

email Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" mean ...

s, chatroom discussions and web-browsing habits as part of the IMP, thought likely to require the insertion of 'thousands' of

black box In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...

probes into the country’s computer and telephone networks. The proposals were expected to be included in the

Communications Data Bill 2008 The Communications Data Bill was intended to create powers to collect data concerning people's phone, e-mail and web-browsing habits for mass surveillance in the United Kingdom. The government database would have included telephone numbers dialed, ...

. The "giant database" would include telephone numbers dialled, the websites visited and addresses to which e-mails are sent "but not the content of e-mails or telephone conversations." Chris Huhne, the

Liberal Democrat Home affairs spokesman The Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson is the spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats on matters relating to the work of the Home Secretary and Home Office. The office holder is a member of the Liberal Democrat frontbench team. The post e ...

said: "The government's

Orwellian "Orwellian" is an adjective describing a situation, idea, or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free and open society. It denotes an attitude and a brutal policy of draconian control by pro ...

plans for a vast database of our private communications are deeply worrying." Despite this, the Home Office denied reports that a prototype of the IMP had already been built. Reports in April 2009 suggested that the government had changed its public stance to one of using legal measures to compel communications providers to store the data themselves, and making it available for government to access; then

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national s ...

Jacqui Smith Jacqueline Jill Smith (born 3 November 1962) is a British broadcaster, political commentator and former Labour Party politician. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Redditch from 1997 to 2010. She served as Home Secretary from 2007 to 2009 ...

stated that "there are absolutely no plans for a single central store." The new plans were thought to involve spending £2bn on paying

ISPs An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...

to install

deep packet inspection Deep packet inspection (DPI) is a type of data processing that inspects in detail the data being sent over a computer network, and may take actions such as alerting, blocking, re-routing, or logging it accordingly. Deep packet inspection is oft ...

equipment within their own networks, and obliging them to perform the cross-correlation and profiling of their users' behaviour themselves, in effect achieving the original goals of the IMP by different means. A detailed analysis was published by the Policy Engagement Network of the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

on 16 June 2009. The All Party Privacy Group held a hearing on IMP in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

on 1 July 2009. In 2010 the new coalition government apparently revived the IMP in its Strategic Defence and Security Review."Strategic Defence and Security Review"
(Press release). Department for International Development. The new version of the IMP was known as the Communications Capabilities Development Programme.

References

{{reflist

External links

Intercept Modernisation
at the Open Rights Group wiki Surveillance Civil rights and liberties in the United Kingdom Mass intelligence-gathering systems Surveillance databases Government databases in the United Kingdom Home Office (United Kingdom) GCHQ

See also

References

External links