The E-Envoy on RIP

[Yaman Akdeniz]

Here is the E-Envoy on RIP and he refers to "allegations that the Government 
plans to snoop on all email traffic" and apparently the "he reality is far from that". 
The Government's new favourite tactic - that we are all paranoid, or what was 
that John Carr called us? The E-Envoy further states that "What the Bill does is to 
set out very clear rules" At least the Bill is clear to him.....

Yaman

SPEECH BY THE E-ENVOY, ALEX ALLAN, 26 June 2000, Woodrow 
Wilson Center, Washington DC, USA

Government and the Internet  
http://www.e-envoy.gov.uk/2000/SPEECHES/wwc26jun00.htm 
"While I’m on the subject of Government and the internet, I feel I must say a 
word about our Regulation of Investigatory Practices Bill, currently before 
Parliament. This has been the subject of controversy in Britain, with allegations for 
example that the Government plans to snoop on all email traffic. The reality is far 
from that. What the Bill does is to set out very clear rules, governed by our 
Human Rights Act, for regulating Government agencies and the police. It gives 
powers to require communications providers to maintain a basic interception 
capability, which is something we share with the US, Germany, France, the 
Netherlands and most other major countries. The Bill sets out requirements for 
warrants before traffic can be intercepted. And where such warrants have been 
granted, it specifies when agencies can seek the plain text of encrypted messages, 
or in special circumstances, the keys needed to decrypt messages. There is 
concern over the use of the internet by terrorists, paedophiles, drug traffickers and 
the like, and we don’t do the cause of trust in the internet and e-commerce any 
favours if we simply ignore these issues."



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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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