News Unlimited: RIP for basic liberties

[Owen Blacker]

Erm...  I just moved into Ilford South. I faxed Mike Gapes from
www.stand.org.uk yesterday!  I think I'll have to suggest coffee and a
chat...   :o)

http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/leaders/story/0,3604,144046,00.html

RIP for basic liberties 
Jack Straw's bill is far too intrusive

Tuesday March 7, 2000 

Michael Gapes, Labour MP for Ilford South, told the Commons yesterday
how his father as a postman would have to deliver letters to a certain
place where they were opened then resealed before continuing their
journey to the recipient's house. He was speaking during the second
reading of the controversial regulation of investigatory powers (RIP)
bill. Everyone knows that interception takes place and that it is the
duty of the authorities to hunt down drug-pushers, paedophiles and
money-launderers by all legal means. The RIP bill still fails to strike
the right balance between an individual's right to privacy and the
state's duty to track down criminals. Even Jack Straw at his most
avuncular could not explain why the right to authorise interception
should rest with him (and his less avuncular successors) rather than
with judges as in many other countries. 

The bill contains powers that seem to be saying RIP to basic civil
liberties. If you encrypt data on your home computer and forget the key
(or did not have it in the first place) you are presumed guilty until
proved innocent. Straw says that courts will easily distinguish between
genuine memory lapses and criminals withholding information - but why
should there be a presumption of guilt in the first place? Meanwhile,
child pornographers will refuse to decrypt - and get a mere two years in
prison instead of the long stretch they deserve. 

The bill requires, for the first time, that internet service providers
such as Freeserve install systems allowing the authorities to track
their subscribers' communications traffic. Mr Straw argues that this is
just an extension of what existing telecoms operators (and Mr Gapes'
dad) have been doing for years. The difference is that internet mapping
technology enables the authorities to build up networks of peoples'
relationships with others. Fortunately, information gathered
clandestinely is still not admissible in court - but neither is it
admissible to the people being surveyed. They will never know even if
they have been proved innocent. How all this squares with Britain's
plans to attract e-commerce companies from all over the world is a
mystery. We will soon know because Ireland is doing the opposite. It
will be illegal for the authorities to force encryption users to hand
over their codes. It remains to be seen whether inward investors find
the grass greener on the other side of the water.

-----
Owen Blacker
Senior Internet Developer and Information Security Consultant
pres.co.interactive
www.pres.co.uk
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