NBI to monitor Internet more closely

Interior Ministry blocks access of ordinary police to YouTube

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The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is upgrading its monitoring of the Internet for about a month, said National Police Commissioner Mikko Paatero on Wednesday. “No actual orders have been given yet, but the NBI will be given the task of following the Internet world intensely from now on for a certain time”, Paatero says.
     Paatero says that the reason for the intensified surveillance is that after events such as the shooting in Kauhajoki the Internet world usually sees a surge in activity.
     “It is a big job, but we will put an effort into it for some time”, Paatero said, commenting on the task that was ahead.
     
The NBI will not be given any additional resources for monitoring the Internet.
     While the NBI is upgrading its online surveillance, ordinary police officers cannot access much of the Internet on their computers at work. For instance, they cannot get to YouTube.
     The video sharing website, and a number of other popular sites, are blocked, under orders of the Ministry of the Interior, for reasons of “data security”.
     
The Kauhajoki gunman put short videos on YouTube showing him firing a handgun at a shooting range. Local police questioned Matti Saari about the video on the day before the shooting. However, no action was taken.
      Urpo Lintala of the Seinäjoki Police says that the police who interviewed him on Monday had seen at least one video, where Saari was shooting at the firing range. The most menacing videos were put on the YouTube after the police interrogation.
      Helsingin Sanomat learned from the Kauhajoki police that they have at least one computer with unrestricted access to YouTube.
     According to Kari Santalahti, head of data security at the Police Administration, says that certain websites are blocked for fear that they might be used for spreading malware onto police computers.
     The police computer network gives access to sensitive information, such as personal data registries, and those maintaining the system do not want to back door for hackers to access confidential police databases.
     “We had terrible problems with YouTube when its use was permitted”, Santalahti says.
     
Santalahti will not name any sites other than YouTube that are blocked.
     Police officers, whose work is closely related to the Internet, have free access to all websites, but there are not many such officers.
     Police units can also acquire separate computers that are not connected to the police computer network, in order to have free access to the Internet. Santalahti does not know if all units have acquired such computers.
     
At the data security company F-Secure, head of research Mikko Hyppönen says that the reasons given by the Interior Ministry are not logical. He says that he has never heard that YouTube would have caused any data security problems.
     Hyyppönen sees YouTube as being among the safest 25 per cent of websites, and suspects that the reason for blocking it is not motivated by data security, but rather by concerns about the use of time by employees.
     “People easily get stuck there watching television, but I don’t know of any security problems there”, Hyppönen says.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Police actions to be examined in detail (24.9.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat