Snooping

The cross-party Science and Technology Select Committee (House of Commons) has today warned that the Government’s controversial new Investigatory Powers Bill (IPB) could cost significantly more than claimed and needs to be clearer about what it expects ISPs to actually do. The bill marks the third attempt by a Government to expand the United Kingdom’s existing telecoms snooping laws by forcing broadband ISPs into logging a bigger slice of everybody’s online activity and then keeping that log for up to 12 months, irrespective of whether or not you’ve committed a crime. On top of that the IPB would also make this data (ICR – Internet Connection Records) more easily accessible for law enforcement agencies through a complex “Request Filter” (not unlike a central database) and Police would not require a full warrant in order to gain access. But a warrant would still be needed for more targeted and detailed interception of an individual’s communications. More recently ISPs have also warned that the predicted costs of implementing the bill (upwards of£175m) are far too low (here) and that some of the measures could impose an effective ban on encrypted end-to-end communication services (not even the service provider can view these). A recent meeting between smaller ISPs and the Home Office also suggested that the Government didn’t yet have a full grasp of the technical challenges involved (here). Into this battle steps the Science and Technology Committee, which has today published the outcome from their inquiry into the IPB and echoed the above concerns. Nicola Blackwood MP, Chair of the Committee, said: “It is vital we get the balance right between protecting our security and the health of our economy. We need our security services to be able to do their job and prevent terrorism, but as legislators we need to be [...]