IP: Ministers rush through e-mail rights

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

----Original Message-----
From:           "Caspar Bowden" <cb () fipr org>
To:             "Dave Farber (E-mail)" <farber () cis upenn edu>

FYI Dave


--
Caspar Bowden                    http://www.fipr.org
Director, Foundation for Information Policy Research
Tel: +44(0)171 354 2333      Fax: +44(0)171 827 6534

-----Original Message-----
From: Caspar Bowden [mailto:cb () fipr org]
Sent: 11 January 2000 11:51
To: Ukcrypto (E-mail)
Cc: FIPR News Archive (E-mail)
Subject: FT 11/1/00:"LAW: Ministers rush through e-mail rights"


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Financial Times 11/1/2000
LAW: Ministers rush through e-mail rights
By Jean Eaglesham, Legal Correspondent

The government has admitted it is being forced to rush through controversial
powers to unscramble encoded e-mail because of fears that its existing
bugging and tapping powers could breach human rights.

The admission is likely to prove embarrassing for the government, which has
set great store by its decision to incorporate the European Convention on
Human Rights into UK law this October. The showpiece human rights
legislation is likely to raise difficulties for the Home Office, not least
in relation to its proposals for decrypting electronic data.

Charles Clarke, a Home Office minister, admitted yesterday that concerns had
been raised about the cost and the human rights implications of the proposed
powers. But he said that delaying the legislation - known as the regulation
of investigatory powers (RIP) bill - to allow further consultation could
have "serious knock on effects" for enforcement agencies.

Mr Clarke said the government could not hold a further round of open
consultation on the bill, which will be published later this month, because
of the time pressures it was under.

"The Human Rights Act becomes law on October 1 and we have to ensure all
agencies are complying at that point. We have to get this (RIP) bill through
parliament, ideally by the end of July," Mr Clarke added.

This rationale is unlikely to convince civil liberties and research
organisations, which warned in October that the proposals - then part of the
electronic communications bill - were likely to breach human rights on
several counts.

Mr Clarke said the government was confident the published RIP bill would
comply with the new rights act.

Critics of the government's approach to regulating e-commerce believe it has
squandered time because of its initial reluctance to reverse policy
decisions. While it has performed several U-turns, particularly on "key
escrow" - the requirement that decryption keys to be lodged with third
parties - the progress of the legislation has been very slow.

"It's a bit rich of them to say it's got to be on the statute book by
October. The view we take is it's their own fault for wasting two years on
key escrow and not listening to objections earlier," said Caspar Bowden,
director of the Foundation for Information Policy Research. "There is a real
danger without further consultation they will make a hash of the
legislation," Mr Bowden added.

The industry has also raised concerns about the proposals, particularly over
their cost. "If the government wants to do the interception, are they going
to pay for it?" asked Nick Landsman, secretary general of the Internet
Service Providers Association.

Mr Clarke said the government was taking the costs issue "very seriously".