The Draft Investigatory Powers Bill, dubbed the ‘Snoopers Charter’ by critics, was introduced in November 2015, quickly raising concern among privacy campaign groups.
The Investigatory Powers Bill aims to be a comprehensive legal framework that governs how the law enforcement and intelligence community can use technology to investigate crimes and terrorism.
The ways in which the government is able to intercept communications today are regulated by a set of outdated laws, according to Home Secretary Theresa May. The last major piece of legislation to deal with this problem was the Regulation Investigatory Powers Act of 2000.
A lot has changed in that time in regards to technology. In 2000, only one in three people owned a cell phone and only 30% of households had access to the Internet.
In Theresa May’s opening remarks on the legislation, she said: “We live in a digital age. Technology is having a profound effect on society. Computers are central to our everyday lives. Big data is reshaping the way we live and work. The internet has brought us tremendous opportunities to prosper and interact with others. But a digital society also presents us with challenges. The same benefits enjoyed by us all are being exploited by serious and organised criminals, online fraudsters, and terrorists. The threat is clear.”
However, critics have argued that the powers contained in the Bill are too large and intruisive. Amnesty International said: “All UK citizens will be put under surveillance. Your Internet history will be filed and stored. Your emails and messages will be processed, even read and stored. And it’s not only the spooks who’ll be poking around, as the police, councils and others will be in on some of the pot. Mass surveillance of this kind is a human rights abuse, and who knows how your data could be used if that information got into the wrong hands? Who’s to say that these are the right ones?”
Currently, the Bill is still going through Parliment and being revised. It is long and complex. It uses a lot of jargon that is difficult to understand. Here is a timeline in how the bill got to where it is today. After that, you can click through various sections to learn more about the legislation and the context around it.
