A parliamentary petition to repeal the Investigatory Powers Act, more commonly referred to as the “Snooper’s Charter”, has been overlooked by the government despite garnering over 150,000 signatures from UK citizens.
The repeal has a deadline of May 2017, but such is the extent of the growing concern surrounding the new bill that it already achieved well over its goal of 100,000 signatures, which is the number required for a petition to be debated in the House of Commons. However, in a new statement released by the government, those who have signed the repeal have been abruptly informed that the bill will not go up for debate. The statement reads:
“The Petitions Committee has decided not to schedule a debate on this petition. When it decides which petitions should be debated, the Committee looks at whether the subject has recently been debated by the House of Commons. The Investigatory Powers Bill was debated on many occasions in Parliament before it became law.”
The Investigatory Powers Act grants the government unprecedented access to its citizens’ personal information, allowing them to access online browsing histories that ISPs will now be forced to store on their servers along with telecommunications. Even if the government doesn’t personally target an individual suspected of committing a crime, their information is still legally entitled to be stored by their ISP, thus ensuring that their online security is placed at risk.
Also See: Here’s a Disturbing List of Who Will Soon Be Able to View Your Internet Browsing History
On top of this, it was revealed that 48 government organisations will have the power to request this information from ISPs and telecommunications companies, including the Food Standards Agency and the Gambling Commission. This means that if this data is obtained by these organisations, its security is dependent upon their ability to ensure that it is kept out of the hands of hackers. The bill, which has been described as “draconian” by its critics, became law at the end of November.
The response from parliament states that “the Bill was investigated by a Committee of MPs and Members of the House of Lords, who heard evidence and produced a report with recommendations about the Bill.” Despite there having been updates made to it since its proposal, the Snooper’s Charter still poses a major threat to our online security, with it even dictating that service providers include backdoors to their products to allow the government to easily access them. Unfortunately despite many protestations, the government is going ahead with it anyway, which could lead to potentially disastrous ramifications.
