Privacy on the internet
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Internet privacy relates to the right for individuals to communicate on the internet anonymously and free of surveillance.
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Summary
There has never been a point where people could remain absolutely anonymous on the internet; however, an increasing trend of companies and governments collecting the data of individuals has led to a need to ensure that the right to privacy in the 'real world' is carried forward onto the internet. There is a need to balance the need in some cases for monitoring and the right to privacy.
Digital Economy Bill
The Digital Economy Bill (known as DEB or DE Bill) legitimises and/or legislates the monitoring of traffic by the content distribution industry and internet service providers in order to discourage or litigate copyright infringers, with the stated aim of reducing copyright infringement using the internet by 70%.
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000
Section 49 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 allows government authorities to demand an individual to provide an encryption key, if it reasonably believed that they have it. Failure to comply can result in up to two years imprisonment. Section 53 states that it is assumed that if a person once had it, they still have it. Section 54 requires that anyone who has had a key demanded of them to keep the demand secret.
Despite recognising the importance for the police to be able to use encrypted data in an investigation, there are numerous issues with this section. Firstly, assuming that the encrypted data is incriminating, this law punishes use of the right not to incriminate oneself (not providing a key is analogous with stating "no comment" in a police interview). Privacy concerns arise when the encrypted data is of a non-incriminating but sensitive nature that the holder of the key is not otherwise willing to divulge. Also, it seems that this law contains a loophole: by not providing the key, a criminal could avoid a longer sentence he may have received by providing it, and therefore it is rarely in the interest of someone who has knowingly broken the law to provide an encryption key. Potentially someone may also be prosecuted because of losing or forgetting the key, or for a file being mistaken as encrypted.
- See also: Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 Part III section 49, section 53, section 54
Forum topics
- Anonymity on the Internet (last post on December 7th, 2009)
- Government-backed Surveillance (last post on November 15th, 2009)
- RIPA 2000 Part III (self incrimation and privacy) (last post on August 25th, 2009)
Votes
Manifesto Ratification 2010
A vote on this policy is due to take place as part of the ratification of the proposed manifesto. No date has yet been set.
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