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New section required
This page should probably also include a section on the Telecommunications Act 1984, on the basis of the independent reviewer of terrorism's note around the recent ISC report. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.27.181.172 (talk) 09:43, 14 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I am working on getting this article ready for Good Article Review, especially since this debate will inveitably come around again before the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act expires at the end of 2016 and with a majority new government in the UK the Communications Data Bill may be introduced again. There is a fair amount of improvement needed which I'll work on and I'll move the article to a neutral title of Electronic surveillance in the United Kingdom, which is getting just as many or more hits in google than the current title. In preparation for the Good Article Review, I'll work through the Good article criteria. Whizz40 (talk) 05:46, 9 May 2015 (UTC)
After reading the articles Telecommunication and Telecommunications data retention, Telecommunications surveillance in the United Kingdom looks like a better title for this article. Whizz40 (talk) 05:20, 11 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Some good ideas. In my opinion the term 'Telecommunication' is a phone-centric term, typically to the exclusion of internet/IP based protocols. That said, the term telecommunications data retention references internet protocol detail records, a term I'd not come across until just now. Still, the question is once again of the article's scope, for example, non-internet based surveillance such as government back doors into Google, Apple, cloud services etc blurs the line between the technical definition of 'telecommunications' (communication between 2 entities) and that of the more colloquial term of old-school telephone wire tapping.
It's possible the article lacks coverage of tech firm back doors of this nature right now, because the legal framework is focused on interception rather than back doors, which presumably uses different sets of legislation. This is further complicated as a lot of these US firms will have fairly complex arrangements with the US government, close allies such as a the UK and less close allies. Should the following be included in this article (is there a better place?) I would argue the term 'Mass surveillance' remains appropriate at this is my preference for the direction of the page.
To cite a page I worked on heavily, Web blocking in the United Kingdom, often piecemeal legislation comes together to create an emergent phenomena, and there is typically polarisation of opinion between government officials and civil liberties advocates whether the apparent emergent phenomenon (mass censorship / mass surveillance) exists as a matter of policy, or practicality in a non-subjective fashion. This is why 'web blocking in the united kingdom' is not 'electronic censorship in the united kingdom', however since 'surveillance' is as much a pejorative as 'censorship' I'm left unsure of an alternative term Deku-shrub (talk) 16:52, 11 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
This article lacks a context-setting introduction that explains why the UK situation merits its own article. What are the general characteristics of mass surveillance in the UK? How would this compare with other developed countries (like France, e.g.)? Is it much more intrusive? Generally, what does the surveillance cover? Public-area video? Ue of private security video by the government? Gov't reading emails? Cellphones being tracked? Etc. Cellmaker (talk) 13:12, 24 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]
