Are all UK SMS text messages being intercepted ?
The Sun "newspaper" reports:
By HARRIET ARKELL
and JOHN KAY, Chief Reporter
PUNK rock fan Mike Devine sent an innocent text message containing lyrics by The Clash ? and was quizzed as a terror suspect after it was INTERCEPTED.
Computer worker Mike, 35, was confronted by a Special Branch cop at his office and taken for a grilling.
He was stunned to be shown a printout of his text which contained the words ?gun? and ?jet airliner?.
Mike, who in his spare time plays bass in a Clash tribute group, had sent the lyric from the song Tommy Gun to a bandmate a month earlier.
The cop accepted his explanation and let Mike go. But last night experts said the amazing incident proved NO phone call or text was now safe from monitoring in the war on terror. Mike, of Bristol ? who works for mobile firm Orange ? admitted: ?I was bricking it.?
He told how his tribute band London Calling ? named after a Clash album ? had been struggling to remember a line in Tommy Gun. His text to singer Reg Shaw, 35, read:
?How about this for Tommy Gun? OK ? SO LET?S AGREE ABOUT THE PRICE AND MAKE IT ONE JET AIRLINER FOR TEN PRISONERS.?
Mike told how he was leaving a meeting at work last week when a Special Branch detective introduced himself.
Mike said: ?I was thinking, ?God, what have I done?? We went into a room and sat down and he asked me if I knew about Special Branch.
"I said, ?Yes? ? even though I didn?t really.
?He asked me lots of questions about my phone, such as was this my number and did I use it at the end of April. Then he produced a printout of a text and asked me if I had sent it.
?I said, ?That?s the lyrics from Tommy Gun?. I explained, ?I?m in a tribute band and was sending the lyrics to the singer.?
?The bloke said, ?Oh I see? and looked a bit embarrassed.?
The song, written in the late 1970s, is about terrorists.
Mike said: ?It hadn?t even occurred to me that it might look a bit dodgy. The man wrapped the interview up quite quickly. I was so relieved to find out that was all it was. It was quite nerve-racking for Special Branch to come looking for you at work.?
Terrorism expert Chris Dobson said: ?It is clear from this incident that the computers at the GCHQ listening operation in Cheltenham have been programmed to listen in on all vocal and textual mobile phone traffic.
?They are probably programmed to pick out key words like bomb and hostage.
?Having this kind of surveillance is the price we have to pay in a modern society to protect us from terrorists.?
Does this mean that the Home Secretary David Blunkett has signed a certificate under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 permitting GCHQ to speculatively trawl the content of every SMS text messages sent within the United Kingdom ? If not, then this alleged interception is illegal.
Why did it take from "the end of April" when the SMS text message was sent until "the end of last week" i.e. May before Special Branch got around to investigating this affair ?
The Register reports that:
" Police maintain that Devine's message went astray. They say he actually sent it to a woman in Bristol by mistake and it was she who alerted police to the content."
Which is slightly more plausible, but still does not explain the time delay in bothering to investigate an alleged "terrorism" related activity.
A web search engine query for the actual lyrics of "Tommy Gun" by The Clash, shows that they do not match with the text of the alleged message quoted by The Sun and The Register above:
"Tommy Gun Lyrics
Artist: The Clash
(Strummer/Jones)
TOMMY GUN
YOU AIN'T HAPPY LESS YOU GOT ONE
TOMMY GUN
AIN'T GONNA SHOOT THE PLACE UP
JUST FOR FUN
MAYBE HE WANTS TO DIE FOR THE MONEY
MAYBE HE WANTS TO KILL FOR HIS COUNTRY
WHATEVER HE WANTS, HE'S GONNA GET IT!
TOMMY GUN
YOU BETTER STRIP IT DOWN FOR A CUSTOM RUN
TOMMY GUN
WAITING IN THE AIRPORT 'TILL KINGDOM COME
AN' WE CAN WATCH YOU MAKE IT
ON THE NINE O'CLOCK NEWS
STANDING THERE IN PALESTINE LIGHTING THE FUSE
WHATEVER YOU WANT, YOU'RE GONNA GET IT
TOMMY GUN
YOU'LL BE DEAD WHEN YOUR WAR IS WON
TOMMY GUN
BUT DID YOU HAVE TO GUN DOWN EVERYONE?
I CAN SEE IT'S KILL OR BE KILLED
A NATION OF DESTINY HAS GOT TO BE FULFILLED
WHATEVER YOU WANT, YOU'RE GONNA GET IT!
TOMMY GUN
YOU CAN BE A HERO IN AN AGE OF NONE
TOMMY GUN
I'M CUTTING OUT YOUR PICTURE FROM PAGE ONE
I'M GONNA GET A JACKET JUST LIKE YOURS
AN' GIVE MY FALSE SUPPORT TO YOUR CAUSE
WHATEVER YOU WANT, YOU'RE GONNA GET IT!
BOATS AN' TANKS AND PLANES, IT'S YOUR GAME
KINGS AN' QUEENS AN' GENERALS LEARN YOUR NAME
I SEE ALL THE INNOCENTS, THE HUMAN SACRIFICE
AND IF DEATH COMES SO CHEAP
THEN THE SAME GOES FOR LIFE! "
Comments
I have proof that my text messages are being intercepted, how has this happened and how do i defend against it. Can anyone advise me please.
Thank you.
Posted by: barry | March 13, 2008 1:05 AM
@ barry - what sort of proof ?
Who do you suspect ? Personal, private sector or UK Government or foreign snoopers ?
If it is UK Government snoopers, who may be acting, or who may think that they are acting, legally within the constraints of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 0Part 1, then you can, in theory, complain to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, who do have the power to investigate electronic interception, even by the Police and the intelligence agencies.
Do not hold your breath for a result in your favour. The Investigatory Powers Tribunal has only ever found in favour of a complainant on one occasion in all the years of its existence, and he was a retired Police sergeant who was being snooped on by his former Police force employers regarding a job related injury compensation claim.
Anything else, i.e. any interception which has not been authorised by a warrant or certificate signed by the Home Secretary, is a criminal offence (up to 2 years in prison),
Unfortunately now that there is no longer a specialist National High Tech Crime Unit which will talk directly to members of the public, you will have to traipse along to your local Police Station, and hope that you can make the the untrained local Police officers understand the technical complexity of your complaint, which will involve them in lots of form filling, and little actual investigation.
Expect to waste at least half a day before you get to see anyone who seems as if they night understand your complaint or who seems as if they can actually take any action about it.
Posted by: wtwu | March 13, 2008 3:41 AM