The UK Government has finally published its draft Electronic Communications Bill after months of stalling and political wrangling. The bill is in four sections, some controversial, some not, covering cryptography, electronic signatures, consumer data protection and telecom regulatory issues.
The first part of the bill sets out the rules regarding cryptography service providers. The government wants self-regulation of the industry covering trusted third party encryption providers, a move which has been broadly welcomed. The Department of Trade and Industry will maintain a list of approved service providers.
The second part of the bill covers electronic signatures, and merely allows them to be admissible for a court to decide whether they have been correctly used on a case-by-case basis.
The clauses covering the escrow of encryption keys in the third section, which caused controversy earlier this year have been toned down, and now providers must hand over keys or decrypted data to security services that have the necessary warrants. An offence of tipping off has been created to prevent systems administrators interfering with covert investigations, with a jail sentence or unlimited fine attached.
The Foundation for Information Policy Research, an IT civil liberties think-tank, has reacted angrily to this section of the bill, accusing the government of Big Brother tactics. The FIPR says that the clauses that make it a jailable offence to withhold encryption keys demanded by law enforcement agencies could breach the European Convention on Human Rights. The bill says that individuals who appear to hold the keys will have to prove that they do not, which could undermine the legal principle of presumption of innocence. The group also points out that police could have access to more encrypted data than required by their investigation – a breach of privacy.
Some members of the industry welcomed the bill. IBM Corp was quick to slip in a plug, saying the bill represents an excellent opportunity for the UK to seize a leadership position in the development of e-business. Caspar Bowden, director of the FIPR, disagrees, arguing that threatening a mountain of red tape will cause e-business to move to places with a more supportive climate, such as Ireland or Canada.
The bill is under consultation from the industry until October 8, 1999. Due to excessive politicking, it will not be read in Parliament until November.
