New Comments on Part III of the RIP Bill (including comments on the Code of Practice

[Yaman Akdeniz]

Press Release - 11 July, 2000, Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties (UK)

LEEDS - Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties (UK) today published its 
comments on Part III of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill 
(based upon the latest version of the Bill) by taking into account the 
related Home Office Code of Practice on Part III.

[Note: The document is not attached as it is annotated with blue text 
and see the website for the document in html format. If anyone 
requires a word version please let me know.]

The document (http://www.cyber-rights.org/reports/part-iii.htm) is an 
annotated version of Part III of the Regulation of Investigatory 
Powers Bill in which italic (blue) text has been added where Cyber-
Rights & Cyber-Liberties (UK) considers that the proposals still pose 
serious difficulties in respect of the rights of honest Internet users. 

The concerns raised in the CR&CL(UK) statement (which has been 
sent to members of House of Lords) is for the most part, confined to 
those raised by Part III dealing with the seizure of encryption keys. 
The statement, furthermore, raises three important questions to be 
answered by the Government in relation to seizure of encryption keys 
(see the statement - http://www.cyber-rights.org/reports/part-iii.htm). 

In relation to the protection of keys for digital signatures, the 
CR&CL(UK) document states that, in practice, clause 47(9) is 
ineffective in protecting many signature keys if the clauses giving 
access to keys remain in the Bill. We believe this will undermine the 
use of digital signatures and hinder the development of e-commerce 
soon after the enactment of the Electronic Communications Act 2000, 
which intended to facilitate such developments.

Among other points raised, CR&CL(UK) statement argues that 
section 48(3) is very damaging and should be completely removed. If 
this clause stays, trust and confidence in the use of public key 
cryptography for both confidentiality and signature purposes will be 
seriously undermined. And this is certain to have an impact on UK e-
commerce aspirations.

Press Information:
Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties (UK), A Critique of Part III, 
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill, 11 July, 2000, at 
http://www.cyber-rights.org/reports/part-iii.htm

The Home Office published the Preliminary draft codes in relation to 
RIP: These documents are circulated by the Home Office in advance 
of enactment of the RIP Bill as an indication of current thinking. They 
will be subject to changes and additions. See http://www.cyber-
rights.org/crypto/ for details and links.

This press release is at http://www.cyber-rights.org/press/

Contact Information:
Mr. Yaman Akdeniz, Director of Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties 
(UK),
CyberLaw Research Unit, Centre for Criminal Justice Studies,
University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, 
Tel: +44 (0) 498 865116, Fax: +44 (0) 7092199011 
E-mail: lawya@cyber-rights.org

Dr. Brian Gladman, Technology Policy Advisor, Cyber-Rights & 
Cyber-Liberties (UK)
Worcester, UK
E-mail: brg@cyber-rights.org

Mr. Nicholas Bohm, E-Commerce Policy Adviser, Cyber-Rights & 
Cyber-Liberties (UK); Member of the Law Society’s Working Party 
on Electronic Commerce
Salkyns, Great Canfield, Takeley,
Bishop’s Stortford CM22 6SX, 
Tel: +44 (0) 1279 871272, 
Fax: +44 (0) 1279 870215
E-mail: nbohm@cyber-rights.org


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mr. Yaman Akdeniz,
Director, Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties (UK)
URL: http://www.cyber-rights.org
E-mail: lawya@cyber-rights.org
Tel: +44 (0)498 865116

Read the CR&CL (UK) Reports at:
http://www.cyber-rights.org/reports/ 
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