In message <NFBBJLNCOLKBLIJLHFIGMEEECEAA.mborchers@igillc.com>, "Mark Borchers" writes:
It difficult to tell from the article whether UK ISPs are refusing to cooperate with lawful requests from UK police, or if UK police are trying to get ISPs to give information without proper authorization.
http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=119873
It's difficult to argue with the premise that "it was in the interests of ISPs to co-operate in investigations against hackers and virus writers".
I can recall posts to this list bemoaning the fact that the FBI was slow or unwilling to launch cybercrime investigations not tied espionage, terrorism, or other good, old-fashioned crime.
I haven't checked the law since the Patriot Act was passed. Prior to that, however, in the U.S. the law *prohibited* communications carriers from giving certain information to the government without a warrant -- but they were free to give it or sell it to anyone else. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/2703.html see (c)(1)(A) --Steve Bellovin, http://www.research.att.com/~smb (me) http://www.wilyhacker.com (2nd edition of "Firewalls" book)