Chorlton

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/news...archived=False

Angry White Pyjamas

Checking mail entering a country is nothing new. And not restricted to the US either.

Chorlton

Parcels - sure I expect that and have had it done, but letters? Are they looking for prohibited chemicals in the ink on the paper?

Partystar

Maybe they're getting bored with all their soap operas & are looking for something steamy to read about!!!

User Name

It's always been this way for years so why is this suddenly news? Practice in the UK/USA/France, etc. Incoming mail into a sovereign country has always been subject to inspection - though most times incoming mail is not opened, U.S. Customs (and functionally equivalent agencies - was the same under Carter, Clinton, you name it) has the absolute right to open mail coming into the USA, the UK etc., same goes for UK Customs or its functional equivalent. UK Customs has the absolute right to check incoming mail, packages, baggage, containers, etc. etc. Though most times UK Customs have no interest in opening mail, they can do so, likewise for packages, baggage, containers, even EU citizens can have their cars searched entering and leaving the UK without a warrant and without probable cause. My sister's car was stopped for a random search with guys in white overalls before leaving the UK, and she had a new baby, a slightly older child, loads of baby stuff for changing baby, all packed into the back of the car. She demanded that they put it all back the way it was. Just a random search, and it happened to be her car, and she is a British and EU citizen leaving the UK for France, another EU country. So I don't get this "news" story at all.

ironporer

The tapping if phone calls and emails of international origin without a warrant ALSO has been done for years- done by Clinton all the way back to Carter.... but now that Bush continues to do it, we have a big scandel. Amazing how this is not being reported by the big 4 news chains.

Like they say, perception is more important than reality

anotherlimey

Um not sure if they did it without judicial approval though.

User Name

So UK's GCHQ applies for a warrant before it eavesdrops on satellite communications or on Embassy comm traffic? Did the UK get warrants when they listened to comms traffic into the UK from Libya? How come the UK security services knew about the Libyan trawler supplying weapons to the IRA absent such eavesdropping? Didn't the UK security services bug public telephone boxes? Wasn't that how they caught some IRA terrorists? Anyone can walk into a public telephone box and their conversations would be recorded, how relevant is a warrant for such activities when you don't know in advance who might use the public telephone box given that Joe public use the same box? This was a tactic used by UK security services on a routine basis for a long long time.

anotherlimey

Listening to conversations of foreign powers is different from listening to your own citizen's conversations.

Here in the US, the government doesn't need a warrant to listen to foreign spies, but it does to listen to its own citizens.

Echelon is an automated system, not a conventional wiretap.

britontour

Your right things like this have been going on for years, I think the big difference is if it becomes ok (law) to listen into anyone's phone calls without a warrant then they could start monitoring people on a bigger scale and using the gained information for their own purposes, this could be political or business information for example.

User Name

I don't think anyone is advocating that. The issue is protecting the people against terrorist activities post 9-11, I don't think listening to everyone's phone conversations will aid in that goal. The monitoring is obviously selective, there's no point in wasting resources on listening to a grandma talking to her grandchild.

User Name

Excuse me, but IRA terrorists were often British citizens. Are you saying it was wrong of the UK security services to listen in to an IRA (British citizen) master of arms using a public telephone box to take down orders for x number of "cooked dinners", "pasties", etc. from IRA units operating in England? You mean to say you really didn't know that many of the IRA terrorists were British citizens. Wow!

Rushman

Read Peter Wrights "Spycatcher' and you'll know that the UK has been doing this since BEFORE WW2.

anotherlimey

I'm not saying that.

If they are a suspected terrorist, then they [law enforcement] can easily get a warrant for it.

Like the US, in the UK different laws govern different types of suspect.

In fact, why did you bring up the UK laws, I never mentioned them?

User Name

... and in more modern times the French secret service section routinely bugged the seats in first class on Air France. No warrant for that one. It is also well-known that the French secret service did not like Green Peace.