Police to intercept e-mail

INTERNET USERS sending digitised pictures of their children to friends could be labelled suspected pdophiles by police, who aim to intercept private e-mails without a warrant .

The Association of Chief Police Officers is drawing up a "memorandum of understanding" to give them access to copies of e-mail and details of users' activities from UK Internet Service Providers (ISPs) serving eight million.

Civil liberties groups say this would breach privacy in terms of the European Convention on Human Rights, and that ISPs are being coerced into cooperation - using the threat of effective closure by police confiscation of their computers if they do not accede.

While the police say privately the measure is needed to catch pdophiles and criminals, critics believe it could lead to "fishing expeditions."

"Our industry is having ... to reveal things as a matter of course that other businesses would not do without a court order," said one ISP manager.

The police are exploiting the 1984 Interception of Communications Act because most ISPs do not meet the statute's meaning of a telecoms company. The 1984 Data Protection Act also allows the police access to electronic data if it is "needed for the prevention of crime".