U.K. Bill Combines E-Spying, Crypto Control

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November 17, 1999 (10:01 AM EST)

By Madeleine Acey,

The U.K. government pulled controversial encryption controls and e-mail spying powers from two draft laws in a surprise move on Wednesday.

However, a new bill will see both measures reintroduced as soon as possible, according to a government spokeswoman.

E-commerce proponents and civil liberties groups had argued against the Electronic Communications Bill, which purported to promote the use of e-commerce by recognizing digital signatures, but called for two-year prison sentences for people who fail to provide encryption keys to law enforcement when demanded. For telling customers about their accounts being tapped, ISPs would have faced five years in jail. The first bill will still go through, but would be stripped down to exclude the access measures, a Home Office spokeswoman said.

A review of the Interception of Communications Act also caused concern because it proposes powers for law enforcement to intercept e-mail -- including from private company networks.

The proposed changes to the act, along with the controversial part of the Electronic Communications Bill, will now form the Regulation of Investigatory Powers bill, announced Wednesday in the Queen's Speech -- the ceremony marking the beginning of the next session of Parliament, in which the Queen lays out the government's agenda for the next year.

A statement from the Home Office acknowledged the human rights concerns of the previous bills' opponents for the first time.

"We're going to be very careful on this," the spokeswoman said. "The bill will be ECHR [European Convention on Human Rights]-compatible; the Secretary of State has to sign the front to say it is. The proposals target the criminal, not the legitimate user of new technology."

Although, asked if the draft laws had changed at all after public consultation resulted in major changes being demanded by the IT and civil liberties communities, she said: "We're deciding how best to take legislation forward. We're taking account of all the comments made, then we'll publish a bill shortly."

The written statement said the bill would "put into effect" the previous proposals.

One outspoken opponent of the previous bills welcomed the move, in part.

"The e-Minister must be congratulated for performing a skillful amputation to save British e-commerce," said Caspar Bowden, director of the Foundation for Information Policy Research.

But Bowden said if the reversed burden of proof on possession of decryption keys was not removed from the legislation, "this government will find itself on the losing side of its own 1998 human rights law." He said that in a briefing, this issue was avoided.