The Bill aims to set out a framework for monitoring electronic
information. However, civil liberty and privacy groups say that the
new law will give the police and security forces the power to
‘snoop’ on UK citizens using the internet.
If the Bill is passed in its present form, it is expected that
ISPs will need to install new equipment connecting their data
centres to an MI5 monitoring centre.
However, the government argues that the so-called RIP Bill is
simply updating the existing surveillance powers of the police for
the internet age. A Home Office spokesman said: “We’ve seen the
growth of very strong encryption codes, virtually unreadable in
fact, which are good for e-commerce security but can be used in
other ways.”
Under the Bill, people who refuse to reveal encryption keys on
demand by the police could face a two year prison sentence.
“The police have to prove the encryption key was deliberately
withheld,” said the spokesman. “We’re not talking about people
going to prison for forgetting passwords.”
