Silicon.com: Snooping Bill: Law faces 229 amendments before Lords

[Owen Blacker]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Caspar, you get everywhere!  Keep it up -- sterling job, mate!   :o)

- -----Original Message-----
From: NMTV.WebMaster@www.nmtv.net
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2000 10:01 AM



Snooping Bill: Law faces 229 amendments before Lords
PUBLISHED: 0:30am on Monday 12th June 2000

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Bill is facing
close scrutiny today as it enters committee stage in the
House of Lords.

This is one of the final opportunities for any substantial
changes to be made to the 74-clause Bill gives law
enforcement agencies greater powers to intercept Internet
communications.

A total of 229 amendments have been tabled. The most
significant of these -- as proposed by Lord Cope -- would
improve the position of Internet Service Providers (ISPs),
with a technical board to approve any interception. Another
proposal suggests the government pay for the bulk of the
compliance costs.

Roland Perry, director of legal affairs at London Internet
Exchange (Linx), said: "I am pleased about Lord Cope's call
to set up an approval board, which the security services
can go to for guidance on what sort of interceptions are
feasible. This board will be able to disallow notices that
just aren't possible to comply with."

More limited changes are likely to be made in the most
controversial part of the Bill -- clause 49 -- that reverses
the burden of proof if a person holding an encryption key
can't disclose it for any reason. Including limiting the
amount of time that a key holder could held liable under
the law.

This could be particularly important for businesses where
the person responsible for holding the key leaves the
company.

However, Lord John Cope, leader of the opposition to the
Bill in the House of Lords, was doubtful that many of the
amendments will be passed. "It is easy to find opposition
to the Bill, however what will be harder is to get enough
agreement on the necessary remedy to actually pass an
amendment," he said.

Caspar Bowden, director at the Foundation for Information
Policy Research (FIPR), argued that the amendments are
simply "window dressing". He said: "We've seen a rise in
opposition but there is still no sign that the government
is prepared to back down."

For related news, see:
'Kill the Bill' - a silicon.com campaign'
http://www.silicon.com/a37873
'Home Office stands firm on 'Snooping Bill''
http://www.silicon.com/a37856
'BCC condemns 'Snooping Bill''
http://www.silicon.com/a37844

Copyright 1998 - 2000 NMTV/Silicon.com. All rights reserved.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGP Personal Privacy 6.0.2

iQA/AwUBOUSm7M024CF+PI6rEQIAjQCfeJVPrRpqwwnpxHRbK5zvtZD/+m0AoMQm
nCJ8DKR5H9HTzhFuXkC7XXf9
=1sxW
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

_____________________________________________________________________
This message has been checked for all known viruses by UUNET delivered 
through the MessageLabs Virus Control Centre. For further information visit
http://www.uk.uu.net/products/security/virus/