'Mass surveillance' fears over law change plans in UK
The UK tech industry has deep concerns over government plans to amend a law dubbed a "snooper's charter".
Ministers insist their changes to the Investigatory Powers Act is intended to keep UK citizens safe.
But, in a statement, trade body techUK said the changes were neither balanced nor proportionate.
Data gathering
The act currently allows the intelligence agencies to access large amounts of data, including from electronic devices.
It also gives them the power to access messages and listen in to phone calls, and requires internet service providers to keep data about their customers' internet browsing for one year.
The proposed amendments would require messaging platforms to inform the Home Office about security updates before they are released -
this applies to any firm with UK customers even if the business is not based here.
It also introduces a new category of "less sensitive data" although critics say this does not have a clear definition.
more here:
The Investigatory Powers Act (Amendment) Bill was announced in the King's Speech on 7 November 2023. The accompanying briefing said that the Bill would update the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 and deliver “urgent changes” needed to protect the British people.
What is the Investigatory Powers Act 2016?
The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 overhauled the framework governing the powers of public bodies, including the intelligence and security agencies and law enforcement, to obtain the content of communications and communications data (information about a communication).
Lord Anderson’s Independent Review of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 was published in June 2023.
(PDF)
https://share.counter.social/s/95e2ae
Its most significant recommendations was to create a new category of bulk personal dataset(sets of personal information about a large number of individuals, the majority of whom will not be of any interest to the security and intelligence agencies) in which there was a low or no expectation of personal privacy, because, for example, it is already publicly available
Lord Anderson also recommended that a new legal basis for accessing internet connection records, records of which internet sites or services have been used, should be added to the Investigatory Powers Act, in order to enable the detection of new subjects of interest.
He also made recommendations about updating certain definitions in the Act and improving the efficiency, flexibility, and resilience of processes around issuing warrants and oversight measures.
The Bill had second reading in the House of Commons on 19 February 24. it had two Committee sittings on 7 March and is due to ahve report stage on 25 March
Bill documents, including the explanatory notes, impact assessment and European Convention on Human Rights memorandum are available on the Bill pages.
privacy campaigners and technology companies have expressed concerns about whether the Bill strikes the right balance between privacy and security
(PDF)
and option to break encryption anytime with the #OnlineSafteyBill makes sense now
always did with me
big picture with these laws and changes being made
#SpyBill << for more
@ecksmc Sheesh, if this crap keeps expanding in other countries as well, before long I'll be advocating for people to adopt a neo-luddite lifestyle.
If they're going to make it so all our technology can/will be used to spy on us even more than it already is, maybe we should just stop using it and tell them to go fuck themselves.
yup it's getting ridiculous the amount governments want to spy on people
i'm all for law and intel agencies looking out for us BUT really do they need access to everything by everyone without an actual reason??
data collection by agencies, like intel, police etc, should all be done via warrants with valid reasons being documented
they know most people just won't care just like tech companies get away with it they want in on that
@ecksmc The problem with expanding surveillance - corporate AND governmental - is it's only a matter of time before it destroys even the barest of pretenses towards democracy.
With the expansive corpora of law in most nations, everyone's bound to be breaking one law or another... just that currently most of the time either the particular law isn't actively being enforced, or the particular violation isn't detected.
Ubiquitous surveillance can & WILL be used to enable/justify political arrests.
@IrelandTorin indeed
it's a slippery, sliding, slope that's for sure