Goodbye Investigatory Powers Bill, Hello Investigatory Powers ACT

In a year of unthinkable events, the IPB has passed the Commons and the Lords - just one more step and digital Government intrusion is law. This post sums up our view and details the results of our straw poll which asked what you think of the Investigatory Powers proposals.

17 November 2016

[caption id="attachment_135" align="alignleft" width="128"]

Paul Heritage-Redpath, Product Manager[/caption] This has been a year of unthinkable events, so it should come as no surprise that last night the Investigatory Powers Bill (IPB) passed the final hurdle in gaining approval by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. All that’s left for it to become law is to gain Royal Assent - i.e. the Queen has to sign it off. Entanet has campaigned hard against the IPB and its previous incarnations. Given the volume of data breaches already this year, as a responsible ISP we consider the collection of every citizen's browsing history to be a profoundly bad idea; it is inevitable that, at best, there will be scope creep among government departments. At worst, your life will fall into the wrong hands. Our recent straw poll indicates that others feel similarly:

57% said that, if the IPB was passed, they would be off to live in the woods so that they wouldn’t have a digital footprint to spy on
24% were mostly concerned about how their business will manage the cost of required data retention
14% have no idea what the IPB is and asked if they should be worried, and
5% weren’t bothered by it as they have nothing to hide.

We will let former Prime Minister David Cameron have the last word: “If we want to stop the state controlling us, we must confront this surveillance state.”

NewStatesman.com: The Investigatory Powers Bill would be better suited to a dictatorship

Have your say! The Investigatory Powers Act will impact your business and your personal life, so how do you feel about it? Let us know by leaving a comment below. Related articles