British Cops Hack Into Government Computers

CmdrGravy writes "The British Police have hacked into Government computers as part of the on-going 'cash for peerages' investigation. They've uncovered evidence which has, so far, led to one arrest and charge of perverting the course of justice for a leading Labour party figure. This charge carries a potential life sentence. The British police have the power to hack into computer systems as part of an investigation. On previous occasions they have said they did not believe the government was providing them with the information they had been asking for and had warned that they would seek other methods to gather evidence. The police won't say what tools they have used. From the article: 'The investigators did not have to notify No 10 if they were "hacking" into its system. One legal expert said: "In some cases, a senior officer can give permission. In other cases, you might need the authorization of an independent commissioner, who is usually a retired judge appointed by the Home Office."'"

In fact

[Anonymous Coward]

Nobody has been charged as a result of this investigation. The official who was arrested was questioned on suspicion of perverting the course of justice and was later released.

Re:What's wrong with the UK?

[Lord_Slepnir]

It was actually the Polish [wikipedia.org] that did most of the cracking of Enigma. The British just took their work, automated it, and produced ULTRA.

Re:Curiosity

[Agelmar]

While it's true that Common Law is the basis of our legal system, most of the applicable laws when it comes to computer crime are much newer than Common Law. I.e. wiretapping (either phones or email) is not something for which common law is cited, but rather telephone acts from the early 1900s. As such, in the area of gathering computer records, I think it's a safe assumption that there may be very substantive differences between the laws of the US and the UK, making it not such a stupid question to ask. Of course, IANAL :-)

Re:Cash for peerages?

[Anonymous Coward]

I know it sounds laughable on the face of things, but the real problem is that the Labour Party got the money, which they then used to (partially) fund their election campaign, and once they won the election, they started handing out these peerages to the people that gave them money.

It's a case of a political party abusing their authority for the benefit of the party and not the government or the people.

Re:What's wrong with the UK?

[Anonymous Coward]

A longer and more accurate answer would be:

It was the Poles who cracked the first two rotors of Enigma without computers.

It was the British Navy who captured the rest of the rotors and the code-books.

It was Turing and Flower who built the first electronic programmable computer that enabled a theoretical crack to be actually used in real-time to read German traffic and produce ULTRA.

Taking a Walk

[Anonymous Coward]

Well they could have taken a walk down to the DC and plugged directly into whatever server was being used. However British Computer Law is pretty indepth, and for anyone interested have a read: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1990/Ukpga_1990001 8_en_2.htm#mdiv1 [opsi.gov.uk] "Saving for certain law enforcement powers. 10. Section 1(1) above has effect without prejudice to the operation-- (a) in England and Wales of any enactment relating to powers of inspection, search or seizure; and (b) in Scotland of any enactment or rule of law relating to powers of examination, search or seizure."

Re:What's wrong with the UK?

[owlnation]

They're part of the Government, but not Parliament. The Police, Judiciary and the Armed forces ultimately answer to the Queen, not necessarily to Parliament.

Re:I wonder who these "computer experts" are?

[attonitus]

With the appropriate authority, the police can do things that your everyday hacker on the street might find very difficult, e.g. gain physical entry to Downing Street, so there's no reason that there would be a gaping hole waiting for black-hats to enter through.

There are several organisations in the UK that regularly do IT security work for the ministry of defence, the police and the security services and have staff who are cleared to high security levels. I worked for Detica [detica.com] about 10 years ago and I think that they would have had the capability to assist in this kind of thing then, don't know if they still do. Qinetiq [qinetiq.com] might be another firm that would have people with relevant expertise.

Re:lol

[l33t_f33t]

You're American, aren't you? In england we have wonderfu;l laws meaning the police aren't part of the government, and MPs and the PM can be prosecuted.

Re:Why am I not surprised?

[Random BedHead Ed]

I live in Britain as well, but I'm a US citizen. I'm not sure if your country is going to the dogs, but looking at Westminster everything seems normal from my cultural perspective. Are the MPs not normally partisan jerks who lie during corruption investigations?

Re:Curiosity

[h2g2bob]

For the millionth time, that act only requires you to provide passwords and keys which you may reasonably expected to know. So if you use a password every time you log into your computer, you would be expected to provide it, and if you forget a PGP key you haven't used in years then they won't put you in prison for it.

Re:+1 caustic humour

[nickco3]

The European Court of Humans Rights is in *Strasbourg*, and hears human rights complaints against the 40-odd signatories to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights. It is nothing to do with Brussels or the EU.

The 1999 Human Rights Act incorporates the ECHR into UK law, so there is no need for any UK citizen to go to Strabourg, the UK courts will hear your complaint.