Lawful Intercept and the hospitality industry

On Sunday 15 March, new Lawful Intercept legislation came into force, but what are the implications for the hospitality industry and its customer and corporate technology? Dean Wilkinson, Sales Director of guest internet provider Airangel tells us more

WiFi provision is now widely accepted as a vital service among hoteliers, conference venues and others in the hospitality trade. Increased interest in social networking sites and the emerging 24/7 working culture which Blackberries and other PDAs have brought about have made WiFi an important and often lucrative service offering – but do you know who’s making use of your WiFi services?

For the most part the answer is no, but as of Sunday 15 March, new legislation demands that if you offer WiFi services you should know who’s using them and what they’re looking at.

Named ‘Lawful Intercept’, the new directive means that you must keep records of all the communications that take place over your internet connection and attempt to identify and record the user.

The directive is a response to the heightened use of the internet in organised crimes such as data theft, paedophilia and in particular terrorism, and is designed to reduce the associated risks for businesses and society as a whole.  The required information must be collected, stored and available for authorities to access at any time including the police, health authorities, council and government.

Whose responsibility is it?

So why isn’t it enough that your internet service provider (ISP) collects and stores this information on your behalf?  In truth this just doesn’t afford you enough protection and while the penalties of not complying aren’t yet known, the potential risks to your brand reputation and image make it an issue that shouldn’t be ignored.

Take for example a haulage company.  If a haulier’s lorry was caught speeding on the motorway, it wouldn’t be the company that would be liable for a fine or penalty, it would be the driver of that lorry.  The management would be able to identify the driver of that particular lorry by checking their records to see who had what van on what day.

The same thinking applies to your business under the Lawful Intercept directive – if a haulage company will pass the authorities onto the speeding driver, so too will ISPs to your business.

In real terms, this means that your business is responsible for knowing who accesses the internet or emails via your server and requires you to store information on user IDs, IP addresses and the date and time of communication. They should be able to trace source of communications, times and locations of equipment and the nature of the communication. This information has to be stored for up to two years.

How do I protect my business?

There are some straightforward steps which can be implemented quite readily. Firstly, in addition to speaking with your ISP you should also seek advice from your other IT partners, be they IT help desks or WiFi and guest internet access providers.

These companies can ensure your system is Lawful Intercept compliant as part of their service and take the hassle out of the process for your business and your staff. Make sure you get comprehensive advice and find the best solution to fit your needs.

Other suggestions include linking room-booking and other data-capture systems to your tracking logs to ensure compliance. By making sure you capture as much information about your guests’ identities when they check in or log on to your internet network, you are going some way to meeting these obligations.

Critics of the legislation argue that the validity of this information is questionable as those engaged in criminal activities will use false identities to evade detection. However, while this may be true, those operating in the hospitality industry have an obligation to comply and a duty to protect their brands and reputations.

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