U.K. Passes Broad Surveillance Bill That Critics Say Goes Too Far
November 30 2016 - 2:10AM
Dow Jones News
LONDON—A sweeping British surveillance bill passed into law
Tuesday, in an overhaul of spying powers that will require
communications companies to keep records of every website and
messaging services that individuals have accessed for a year.
Security officials welcomed the development, saying the
government needs expanded powers to keep pace with changes in
technology as terrorist groups become increasingly tech-savvy. But
civil liberties groups and technology companies said the new powers
go too far. The bill received royal assent—the final step in the
process of becoming a law—after passing through Parliament.
The law comes as technology companies in Silicon Valley lock
horns with governments in the U.K. and the U.S. over where to draw
the line between user privacy and national security.
Last week, French prosecutors said the country's recently
enhanced surveillance powers, which came into effect this summer,
had allowed them to foil a planned terror attack by Islamic State.
The U.K. government Tuesday said its law will ensure that security
and intelligence agencies have the powers they need.
"The internet presents new opportunities for terrorists and we
must ensure we have the capabilities to confront this challenge,"
Home Secretary Amber Rudd said. "But it is also right that these
powers are subject to strict safeguards and rigorous
oversight."
The new law, which will be phased in, grants authorities the
right to see information about which websites individuals have
accessed, including apps or social media accessed through a
smartphone. It also spells out explicitly for the first time the
rules that govern authorities' powers to hack computers to gain
access to communications.
Civil liberties groups said the law paves the way for mass
surveillance without sufficient oversight.
"It's a sad day for our democracy as this bill—with its eye
wateringly intrusive powers and flimsy safeguards—becomes law,"
said Bella Sankey, policy director for Liberty, a civil rights
group. She said the law opens "every detail of every citizen's
online life up to state eyes, drowning the authorities in data and
putting innocent people's personal information at massive
risk."
Intelligence officials say the new law codifies how capabilities
they have used for years are properly used. While the U.K.'s spy
agencies carry out data collection and analysis with strict
internal oversight, the new law lays out for the first time how the
techniques can be limited.
Intelligence officials say the way they use data is often
misrepresented. "We aren't actually interested in people's various
peccadilloes," said one security official. Instead, the value of
data lies less in randomly collected information than in the
ability of intelligence agencies to use data sets to identify or
track down suspects.
Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. have criticized the legislation in
the past and said collecting data in bulk is overzealous. Apple
Inc. earlier this year said complying with the proposals would
weaken the strength of encryption in the products, making it easier
for criminals and terrorists to steal data.
John Shaw, vice president of product management at internet
security firm Sophos Group PLC, said Tuesday he was concerned that
storing personal data for a year gives cybercriminals more
opportunity to steal it.
"The requirement is in theory for them to keep details of the
pages we visit and other 'communications data,' but not the
'content' of those pages—although any technologist will tell you
that the distinction between the two is becoming increasingly
blurred," Mr. Shaw said. "Either way they will hold a vast amount
of sensitive data about all us—business and personal—like who you
bank with, who your energy provider is, what email service you use,
who you send emails to and how often, and so on."
Stu Woo contributed to this article.
Write to Jenny Gross at jenny.gross@wsj.com and Alexis Flynn at
alexis.flynn@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 30, 2016 01:55 ET (06:55 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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