The UK government’s drive to update the country’s controversial Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) is prompting “a fresh outcry” among both industry execs and privacy campaigners, a US news outlet has reported.
According to the outlet, Downing Street’s actions to expand what is known as one of Europe’s toughest surveillance laws could hobble efforts to protect user privacy.
In a letter to Home Secretary James Cleverly, industry body TechUK warned that the Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill threatens technological innovation, undermines the sovereignty of other nations and leads to far-reaching consequences if it causes a domino effect overseas.
16 January 2020, 16:51 GMT
TechUK insisted that combined with pre-existing powers, the IPA changes would "grant a de- facto power to indefinitely veto companies from making changes to their products and services offered in the UK."
"We stress the critical need for adequate time to thoroughly discuss these changes, highlighting that rigorous scrutiny is essential given the international precedent they will set and their very serious impacts," the letter reads.
The document points out that TechUK is concerned that the the proposed changes are presented by the Home Office as minor adjustments and as such are being downplayed.
Director of thecampaign group Big Brother Watch, Silkie Carlo, argued that with CCTV footage or social media posts people may not have an expectation of privacy, but that "data taken together and processed in a certain way, can be incredibly intrusive."
"What we're seeing across these different bills is a continual edging further towards […] turning private tech companies into arms of a surveillance state," Carlo said.
A No.10 spokesperson in turn underscored that the government has always been clear that it supports technological innovation as well as private and secure communications technologies, including end-to-end encryption. "But this cannot come at a cost to public safety, and it is critical that decisions are taken by those with democratic accountability," the spokesperson warned.
The 2016 IPA, commonly known as the "snoopers’ charter", contains a spate of provisions, such as requiring broadband internet service providers and mobile operators to log internet connection records (ICRs) for up to 12 months.
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