The Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill could force tech companies to inform the UK government of any security or privacy improvements to their platforms.
With other civil society groups, we've warned that powers to veto such updates could turn “private companies into arms of the surveillance state.”
🔴 Weakens safeguards when intelligence services collect bulk datasets of personal information, potentially allowing them to harvest millions of facial images and social media data.
🔴 Expressly permits the harvesting and processing of internet connection records for generalised, massive surveillance.
🔴 Expands the range of politicians who can authorise the surveillance of parliamentarians.
Under the Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill, tech companies could be forced to inform the UK government of improvements to security or privacy measures, even if they're based overseas. This is so a notice could be served to prevent such changes.
Private companies will effectively become arms of the surveillance state, which will erode the security of devices and the Internet.
Many of the powers in the Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill may be incompatible with the UK’s obligations under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
We call on the House of Lords to support our recommendations to protect privacy. Find out more in our joint briefing.
"An operator of a messaging service wishing to introduce an advanced security feature would now have to first let the Home Office [UK] know in advance."
Secure IT systems prevent fraud in commercial transactions and protect our private lives from undue intrusions.
If the UK government were concerned about national security, they’d want to encourage (rather than delay) security updates or end to end encryption.
The UK government plans have nothing to do with protecting our security. It's about allowing State intrusion into the lives of UK residents.
After the #OnlineSafetyBill and the #DPDIBill, it's another display of ignorance and bad faith by a government that's unfit to regulate the digital space.