>From http://www.guardian.co.uk/freespeech/article/0,2763,331533,00.html >>Ah, cummon, how else can they properly assess the I-Net tax? A<>E<>R << }}>Begin Internet monitoring 'time bomb' for e-commerce Allowing MI5 to monitor people's internet habits goes further than George Orwell's worst nightmare argues Online editor Victor Keegan Lords to fight email tap bill Tuesday June 13, 2000 Anyone who has been following it has long known that the government's RIP (Regulation of Investigatory Powers) bill is a time bomb waiting to explode. The government has casually brushed aside strong objections of civil liberty lobbies on the grounds they don't have many votes. It is only - at the eleventh hour - when business has suddenly woken up to the dangers it presents to e- commerce that the government is being forced to take serious notice. It reads like a script that would have been deemed unrealistic for an update of the film 1984. Under the terms of the bill - which is going through its committee stage in the Lords this week - every internet service provider will have to install a black box with a direct line to MI5. This would enable the intelligence authorities to monitor the pattern (though not the content) of all our emails and internet habits and chat room visits - who we send emails to and which web sites we visit. Further powers enable the authorities on production of a warrant to demand our passwords or encryption keys under pain of two years in jail. If you have forgotten your password (a daily occurrence for many net users) then you will be presumed guilty until proved innocent by the courts. Bang goes another principle of British justice - that a person is innocent until proved guilty. If MI5 demand that you hand over your personal or corporate encryption key then you could be liable for five years imprisonment if you tell your boss or your spouse. Last week the government started to wake up when the Institute of Directors published a critical report. But that was mild beer compared with a devastating report over the weekend by the British Chambers of Commerce drawn up by an expert panel including professor Ian Angell of the London School of Economics. It dismisses the bill as "entirely inadequate" in its primary aim of achieving reasonable surveillance and its effect "is likely to be loss of confidence in e- commerce, unacceptable costs to business and to the UK economy, confusion and uncertainty at numerous levels of business activity, and an onerous imposition on the rights of individuals". The penny may at last be starting to drop in Whitehall. If this bill goes through in its present form, far from making Britain the best place to do e-commerce in (as is Tony Blair's stated aim) it will produce one of the most draconian regimes in the world driving e-commerce to safer havens like Ireland and most countries in Europe. Unless Tony Blair wants to create a furore that will make this encounter with the Women's Institute seem like a picnic, he should rewrite this appalling bill. Now. End<{{ A<>E<>R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Integrity has no need of rules. -Albert Camus (1913-1960) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." Ernest Hemingway + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html <A HREF="http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
