“A planned British law to give spies and the police wide-ranging new surveillance powers is rushed, does not do enough to protect people’s privacy and requires major change, a powerful committee of lawmakers said on Tuesday,” Michael Holden reports for Reuters.
“Critics say the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill would be the West’s furthest-reaching surveillance law, while tech companies have warned it would damage their own security systems,” Holden reports. “It would force communications firms to collect and store vast reams of data about almost every click of British online activity. The bill would also oblige service providers to help intercept data and hack suspects’ devices.”
“‘Overall, the privacy protections are inconsistent and in our view need strengthening,’ parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) said in a report. ‘The draft bill appears to have suffered from a lack of sufficient time and preparation,’ it added,” Holden reports. “The British bill, which comes before parliament later this year, is being watched closely by governments and tech companies around the world.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s not enough that every Brit alive has a government camera shoved up their ass 24/7/365?
The UK has already slipped far down the slope that they ought to rename the place Airstrip One, but in case you cling to some wisp of hope that the Big Brother genie can be shoved back into his bottle, you should vigorously oppose this snoopers’ charter, the “Investigatory Powers Bill.”
G. K. Chesterton said it best: It isn’t that they cannot see the solution. It is that they cannot see the problem.
There have been people that suggest that we should have a back door. But the reality is if you put a back door in, that back door’s for everybody, for good guys and bad guys. — Apple CEO Tim Cook, December 2015
SEE ALSO:
Apple makes a strong case for strong encryption; some politicians don’t know what they’re talking about – December 22, 2015
Wikipedia founder: Apple should stop selling iPhones in the UK if ‘stupid’ new law banning Apple encryption is enacted – November 4, 2015
UK Prime Minister Cameron backs law to make Apple’s iPhone encryption illegal – November 3, 2015