from: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ----- UK Loves Big Brother For Your Internet Connection, Dial MI5 Supermarket records checked against tax returns. by Simon Davies THIS week, the House of Lords will vote on a Bill designed to create a regime of surveillance for the entire internet. Fuelled by fears of rampant anarchy, pornography and a digital black economy, the Government is pressing ahead with measures of intrusion into cyberspace without parallel anywhere outside Russia. The legislation, known as the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Bill, authorises government agencies to snoop, often without warrant, on the e-mail and internet activities of everyone with an internet connection. "Black boxes" will connect internet service providers directly to the HQ of MI5. The security services will be provided with new powers to use this machinery to monitor British domestic internet activities. People are up in arms. True, the internet can be a scary place - particularly for those who can't remember when the telephone and the printing press induced similar anxieties. Some people in government are also scared of the internet. They believe criminality and tax evasion will flourish in cyberspace. Having spent much of the past decade trying unsuccessfully to figure out ways of controlling the medium, government has struck upon a novel idea: make sure everyone using the internet knows they are being watched. But although Britain already has the highest level of conventional mail and phone interception, per capita, than anywhere in the Western world, at least those intrusions are regarded as extraordinary. The real problem with the RIP Bill is that it builds surveillance into the core of the internet, and thus destabilises the very foundation of the medium. An unprecedented alliance has formed an ad-hoc coalition of opposition to the Bill. Yesterday, more than 50 organisations ranging from the Countryside Alliance to Unison signed an open letter demanding the withdrawal of the Bill. They warn that the measures are heavy-handed and ill-considered, and will lead to loss of confidence in e-commerce, unacceptable costs to business and to the British economy, confusion and uncertainty at numerous levels of business activity, and an onerous imposition on the rights of individuals. The Bill permits surveillance of the internet "for the purpose of assessing or collecting any tax, duty, levy or other imposition, contribution or charge payable to a government department". Would the authorities ever use these powers? On the basis of the past record of the Inland Revenue, it is likely that they will. It was recently revealed that they have approached supermarkets to obtain loyalty card files. They say the information is useful to determine whether a person's spending pattern matches the way of life implied by his tax return. Consider, also, the requirement in the Bill for computer users and companies to hand over on demand their "decryption" keys to the Government. It sounds mundane, but this simple requirement in the legislation is likely to drive businesses off-shore. Encryption (the mathematics of scrambling data so it is unintelligible to business rivals) sits at the heart of the functioning of modern business, and it forms the core of the trust in the e-commerce and banking industries. Enter government, with its size 12 boots, demanding that businesses hand over these priceless items. Bemused investors and venture capital leaders have warned that the requirement compromises the core security of business. And that means investment in new British projects in e-commerce will fall off sharply. Sensing a potential economic disaster, the British Chambers of Commerce recently commissioned some academic colleagues and me to conduct an assessment of the economic impact of the Bill. We concluded that it would create an economic Chernobyl amounting to a cost to the British economy of £46 billion over five years. Instead of causing an uproar, business groups have been quiet, choosing to pursue discreet meetings with ministers rather than dropping depth charges. The reason, perhaps, can be traced to a civil servant from the DTI, Nigel Hickson. In a scene worthy of Yes, Minister, the Government placed Hickson "on loan" to the CBI, from where he started to co-ordinate the business response to the Bill. Scary stuff. In the face of increased opposition from non-business groups, Jack Straw entered the fray. He talked up the potential for the Bill to tackle crime on the internet, and launched a spirited attack on our economic report. Mr Straw's intervention is significant. It indicates that the driving force behind the Bill is substantial, and the air of desperation within sections of government to get the legislation through has blinded the Home Office to commercial and human rights sensitivities. It is already clear that the Government is starting to split on RIP, with Stephen Byers publicly lobbying Straw to reconsider. This is one of the few Bills in recent memory that threaten the interests of commerce and human rights. The Lords should act in everyone's interest, and throw it out. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Simon Davies is director of Privacy International and visiting fellow in the Department of Information Systems at the London School of Economics Electronic Telegraph, July 12, 2000 ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, All My Relations. Omnia Bona Bonis, Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End <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, mis- directions 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, CTRLgives 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://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.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
