FC: U.K. may abandon plan for more agencies doing surveillance

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 15:31:14 +0100
From: Richard Clayton <listmaster () admin fipr org>
Subject: FIPR-Bulletin: FIPR welcomes Government rethink on snooping powers

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FIPR Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE USE: 18 June 2002

FIPR welcomes Government rethink on snooping powers
---------------------------------------------------

The Home Office is reported to have postponed its proposals to amend the
Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Act to allow a huge increase in
the official that can access personal details of phone calls and emails.

Attention was first drawn to the highly technical Regulations
encapsulating this change by an FIPR Press Release on 10th June. The
story has since become headline news and the Government has now decided
not to proceed with these changes.

Ian Brown, Director of FIPR welcomed this news, "these proposals were
poorly   considered, poorly justified and over the past week have been
condemned by almost everyone outside of Whitehall. The Home Office must
now tear them up and start again from first principles."

He continued, "we are as keen as anyone else in seeing wrongdoing
investigated, but we don't think that handing out such wide-reaching
powers to every bureaucrat in the land is compatible with living in a
free society. The Government needs to carefully consider whether self-
authorisation can ever be appropriate for this type of invasion of
privacy and they need to pay a lot more attention to the oversight
regime. An Interception Commissioner who doesn't have the resources to
open all his mail is no credible way to ensure that abuse is detected."

Contacts for enquiries:
-----------------------

Ian Brown
Director
Foundation for Information Policy Research
ian () fipr org

Ian is abroad for the rest of the week :(

In his absence please contact:

Richard Clayton
treasurer () fipr org
07887 794 090

Notes for editors
-----------------

1. The Foundation for Information Policy Research (www.fipr.org), is a
   non-profit think-tank for Internet and Information Technology policy,
   governed by an independent Board of Trustees with an Advisory Council
   of experts.

2. The only independent oversight of this part of the RIP Act is
   provided by the Interception Commissioner, but as no central records
   are kept of accesses, he must travel around every police force and
   agency inspecting a random sample of their records.

3. Alan Beith MP of the Commons Intelligence and Security Committee told
   Parliament in 2001 that the commissioner was "dependent on a tiny
   support structure which is quite incapable of carrying out the job...
   there was not even anybody to open the mail, let alone process it,
   for many months."

   see Hansard 29 Mar 2001, Col 1150

   <URL:http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200001/cm
   hansrd/vo010329/debtext/10329-17.htm#10329-17_spnew2>

4. The order, now abandoned, is at:

   http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2002/draft/20022322.htm

5. A RIP s22 notice will reveal details held by a communications service
   provider such as...

        name and address
        service usage details
        details of who you have been calling
        details of who has called you
        mobile phone location info
        source and destination of email
        usage of web sites (but not pages within such sites)

6. The current list of bodies allowed to serve RIP s22 notices is:

   Police (all the forces, MOD police, NCS, NCIS)
   Secret Intelligence Agencies (MI5, MI6, GCHQ)
   Customs and Excise
   Inland Revenue

7. The order was to extend the list of public authorities that can issue
   RIP s22 notices (ie to access traffic data from telcos and ISPs)...

   ...to add the following central Government departments

   1. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
   2. The Department of Health.
   3. The Home Office.
   4. The Department of Trade and Industry.
   5. The Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions.
   6. The Department for Work and Pensions.
   7. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment for Northern
      Ireland.

   AND pretty much any local authority

   8. Any local authority within the meaning of section 1 of the Local
      Government Act 1999
   9. Any fire authority as defined in the Local Government (Best Value)
      Performance Indicators Order 2000
  10. A council constituted under section 2 of the Local Government etc.
      (Scotland) Act 1994
  11. A district council within the meaning of the Local Government Act
      (Northern Ireland) 1972

   AND NHS bodies in Scotland and Northern Ireland

  12. The Common Services Agency of the Scottish Health Service.
  13. The Northern Ireland Central Services Agency for the Health and
      Social Services.

   AND some other bodies

  14. The Environment Agency.
  15. The Financial Services Authority.
  16. The Food Standards Agency.
  17. The Health and Safety Executive.
  18. The Information Commissioner.
  19. The Office of Fair Trading.
  20. The Postal Services Commission.
  21. The Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency.
  22. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency.
  23. The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority Constabulary.
  24. A Universal Service Provider within the meaning of the Postal
      Services Act 2000

--
Richard Clayton                                       treasurer @ 
admin.fipr.org

Foundation for Information Policy Research                   http://www.fipr.org




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