U.K. Home Office terrorism advisory site offered link to a porno site
On Monday, a new EU regulation went into effect mandating that ISPs store details of user e-mails and Internet calls; a Home Office site contained a link for citizens who felt the measure was too intrusive, and who would want to send the Home Office a complaint about it; trouble is, those who clicked on the link were sent to a Japanese porno site
How is this for embarrassment: One of the links on the U.K. Home Office’s site advising on the interception of possible terrorist communications sent visitors to a Japanese pornography site. The BBC reports that the Home Offices has now removed the offensive link from its Office for Security and Counter Terrorism site. The link was discovered by people who tried to learn more about a new EU regulation which mandates that ISP keep store details of user e-mails and Internet phone calls. The Japanese URL was hidden in a link that told companies if they felt a notice on setting up surveillance from the Home Office was unreasonable, they could refer to the Technical Advisory Board (TAB).
Gavin Clarke writes that according to the now updated Home Office link, the TAB consists of a panel of “experts from government and the communications services industry” whose role is to “advise the Home Secretary on whether disputed notices are reasonable.”
The original link sent visitors to a Japanese site featuring shapely Japanese girls sporting glossy lipstick and scanty underwear. The Home Office told the BBC it would be investigating how the link made it into the site, but noted the site it was linking to had become defunct and been bought by a “different company.”
