FITUG e.V. Förderverein Informationstechnik und Gesellschaft

FC: UK proposal fails to make RIP act (even more)

------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 21:15:33 -0500 To: politech@politechbot.com From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> Subject: FC: UK proposal fails to make RIP act (even more) Draconian Copies to: cb@fipr.org Send reply to: declan@well.com

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From: "Caspar Bowden" <cb@fipr.org> To: "'Declan McCullagh'" <declan@well.com> Subject: For Politech: Attempts to make UK RIP Act more draconian Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 00:36:27 +0100

RIPlist Bulletin 27/3/2001 (Politech version) ==========================

An amendment designed to make the UK's infamous Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Act 2000 even more draconian was briefly proposed by a backbench MP as part of another crime bill, but was rejected on 14th March.

It would have increased the penalty to ten years for failure to decrypt material seized under the Protection of Children Act 1978.

If accepted, the amendment would have meant that failure to decrypt material seized under a particular act of parliament, could be punished much more severely than material acquired under other powers, with no stronger evidence that the material was in fact child pornography.

The RIP Act became law last year amid huge controversy, and is now being implemented in stages.

Unlike the FBI's Carnivore system, the legislation can compel ISPs to install a permanent interception capability, hardwired to a monitoring centre in the Security Service (MI5) building. New trawling warrants permit mass-surveillance of communications, targeted against persons inside the UK, which may effectively require ISPs and telcos to connect their backbones to ECHELON.

>From October, failure to provide a decryption key in connection with any crime can be punished by two years imprisonment, and any public authority may seek a court order demanding decryption even from those not suspected of any crime. "Decryption notices" can be served with a lifetime gagging order prohibiting public protest, punishable with five years imprisonment if breached.

Complaints and appeals are heard by a special Tribunal, which can hear secret evidence in separate sessions from the complainant. There is no right to cross-examination or to a summary of secret evidence.

Further details at the RIP Information Centre: www.fipr.org/rip -- Caspar Bowden Tel: +44(0)20 7354 2333 Director, Foundation for Information Policy Research

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