Home Office RIP Bill under fire from critics

The UK Home Office has relegated criticism of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Bill, that innocent people could be sent to jail, into the realms of hysteria.

Caspar Bowden, director of Internet policy think-tank FIPR (Foundation for Information Policy Research), said the UK is the only country in the world that has published the "impossible" law that users of encryption technology could be imprisoned if they lose or forget their keys under the terms of the Bill.

But the Home Office said: "There has been some hysteria over this but the commons trade and industry committee see it as a useful addition to law enforcement powers. It would only apply to material being acquired under legal exercise."

RIP, published today, combines the controversial decryption law that was jettisoned from the DTI's E-communications Bill last year with an update to the 1985 Interception of Communications Act.

Referring to the latter, the Home Office has recommended that Internet Service Providers be compelled to provide and pay for interception capabilities. It said it considers this to be "the most effective option for ensuring a level commercial playing field for all CSPs [communication service providers] in the UK" despite the actual cost of compliance still being unclear.

Industry observers have warned this could put many small ISPs out of business. But a Home Office spokesman said it would "tailor the extent to which each ISP would have to comply on an individual basis".