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Silicon.com: Anti-RIP lobby wins changes to Snooping Bil

------- Forwarded message follows ------- From: Owen Blacker <owen.blacker@pres.co.uk> To: "'UK Crypto list'" <ukcrypto@maillist.ox.ac.uk>, "'STAND list'" <plotting@netlists.liberty.org.uk> Subject: Silicon.com: Anti-RIP lobby wins changes to Snooping Bill Date sent: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 18:47:45 +0100 Send reply to: ukcrypto@maillist.ox.ac.uk

-----Original Message----- From: NMTV.WebMaster@www.nmtv.net [mailto:NMTV.WebMaster@www.nmtv.net] Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2000 6:49 PM

Anti-RIP lobby wins changes to Snooping Bill PUBLISHED: 0:15am on Wednesday 28th June 2000

The UK government has bowed to industry pressure and introduced a series of amendments to the RIP Bill, as predicted by silicon.com last week (see http://www.silicon.com/a38193 ).

The Home Office has now agreed to restrict the level of internet communication that can be obtained by the intelligence services without a warrant.

The Bill will still enable the security forces to demand access to encryption keys in "certain circumstances", but states that the usual action will be to obtain a plain text printout of the material in question.

The government also said that company directors will now be informed if the intelligence services demand access to encryption keys, and added that decryption notices will always say who has authorised them, in response to concerns regarding the possibility of spoof notices.

Yaman Akdeniz, director of Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties UK, said while he welcomed the amendments, he believed the government was still skirting the ethical issues surrounding the privacy debate.

Speaking to silicon.com, Akdeniz said: "Any improvement is welcome, but they had to reach a compromise or it would have been thrown out of the House. They are backing down because they always knew the Bill was intrusive. I don't like government having that much surveillance ability. The Cold War is over - there is no serious security threat. They have to justify the need for such a Bill now."

Mark Sharman, head of policy at the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC), said he was happy with the amendments as they dealt with most of the concerns raised in a recent report by the BCC.

Sharman said: "The amendments will go a long way to meeting the concerns of the industry and they have addressed the majority of our concerns. But we will have to wait and see how the codes of practice turn out, they will be the key issue."

A spokesman at the London Internet Exchange remained more cautious. He told silicon.com that he would feel happier about the amendments once he heard the outcome of today's debate in the House of Lords.

He said: "These amendments are so complex it's impossible to comment on them now. We're talking about over 50 pages of amendments in total, and sometimes it's just one word in an amendment that causes the problem."

A Home Office spokesman said: "Where changes can be made which offer reassurance, but which at the same time maintain the balance sought by the Bill, the Government has made them. We have received a number of constructive points in the Lords on areas such as the definition of communications data, and clarification on the use of decryption provisions which we believe we can meet through our amendments."

For related news, see:

'Government muses ISP tax relief for 'Snooping Bill'' http://www.silicon.com/a38259

'Government hints at 'Snooping Bill' climb-down' http://www.silicon.com/a38193

'RIP: a framework for 21st century law enforcement - or an unnecessary burden on British business?' http://www.silicon.com/a36614

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