[HN Gopher] Surveillance-by-Design in Proposed Amendments to the...
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       Surveillance-by-Design in Proposed Amendments to the UK
       Investigatory Powers Act
        
       Author : DyslexicAtheist
       Score  : 103 points
       Date   : 2024-01-19 17:23 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.lawfaremedia.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.lawfaremedia.org)
        
       | FerretFred wrote:
       | > There is a bill moving rapidly through the U.K. Parliament that
       | poses a significant threat to data security and privacy in the
       | U.K. and beyond. It is ill considered and should be amended
       | substantially before it moves forward. The bill is flawed in
       | several respects
       | 
       | UK citizen (person of interest?) here.. sadly, this summarises
       | what passes for the New Normal here in Britain. Contentious bills
       | are always "rushed", and will only be considered by the people it
       | will ultimately affect. These bills are always flawed in some
       | way, but somehow, the Oppositin never seems to oppose. I'm not
       | surprised.
        
         | hkt wrote:
         | Unfortunately Labour (with the exception of when they had
         | Corbyn in charge) are habitually authoritarian. The mark of a
         | party of lawyers, perhaps. So, no real opposition.
        
         | ben_w wrote:
         | The original Investigatory Powers Act and Brexit were the two
         | reasons I left the UK; the latter hit me harder than I expected
         | even by the immediate aftermath of the poll results, but the
         | former was so obviously broken even at the time that I'm
         | surprised the UK even has a tech sector any more... though I
         | suppose, like GDPR, everyone who is being forced to comply is
         | trying to do the least effort version of compliance, and the
         | inherent secrecy is combining with cluelessness about who has
         | exactly what capability to make "do very little" a much easier
         | path than I was expecting.
         | 
         | I went to actual Portcullis House to talk to my local MP in
         | person about the IP Bill and try to convince her to at least
         | limit the worse parts. Nada.
        
           | trinsic2 wrote:
           | It would be good to hear what was said, if you don't mind
           | sharing.
        
         | stranded22 wrote:
         | It doesn't matter what the opposition does, Conservatives have
         | a massive majority.
         | 
         | This explains why the distraction is going on - just like last
         | time when they got the last bill through.
         | 
         | I hate them with all my heart - not very HN of me, I know.
        
           | nerdawson wrote:
           | Labour are on course to win a landslide of their own in the
           | election expected to be held this year.
           | 
           | Expect more of the same regardless of which party are in
           | power.
        
             | trinsic2 wrote:
             | IMHO in order to stop an oppression, people need to
             | withdraw there support of said system by organizing
             | directly and withdrawing from party politics because party
             | systems create polar opposites that keep the status quo
             | going.
        
       | gumballindie wrote:
       | Other than ai companies and ai workers no decent engineer or
       | company would agree to these changes. The UK government seems
       | desperate to alienate everyone.
        
       | dewclin wrote:
       | > the U.K. government could use existing powers to require that
       | the company meet surveillance capability demands as a condition
       | of making a product or feature available.
       | 
       | > If the government's demands are not met, the company may have
       | no choice but to abandon the product or feature launch, giving
       | the government essentially a veto power on how companies innovate
       | and improve their products
       | 
       | Well, that's going to attract tech companies to the UK /s
        
       | user764743 wrote:
       | >There's no reason to think that the intentions behind the bill
       | are anything but noble.
       | 
       | Who are these ex-cops kidding?
        
       | LispSporks22 wrote:
       | I think the UK kinda just needs to build its own "internet" like
       | China does. Apps for UK people to get spied and surveilled upon
       | and generally "kept in line". Also maybe a courtesy firewall so
       | they don't feel completely left out.
        
         | WhackyIdeas wrote:
         | I live in the UK. And I agree. May as well.
         | 
         | You can put lipstick on pig. But it's still a pig. Not sure if
         | Cameron got that memo, mind you.
        
         | OliveMate wrote:
         | The sad thing is that our political class and media used to
         | actively ridicule China's Great Firewall, but now when the
         | _internet nasty_ of the month pops up they all froth at the
         | mouth over controlling what people can see.
        
       | LispSporks22 wrote:
       | Is there a name for efforts that are terrible and often defeated,
       | but are basically inevitable due to just wearing down its
       | opponents over time?
        
         | rad_gruchalski wrote:
         | Democracy.
        
           | wolverine876 wrote:
           | You can use the same tactics.
        
         | elmomle wrote:
         | "War of attrition" is the phrase I hear used most frequently in
         | such contexts.
        
       | ben_w wrote:
       | > Paired with the gag order that comes with each, this has
       | several effects, including that the non-U.K. company can't notify
       | its home government of the demand, even one that violates the law
       | of the home government, preventing any sort of diplomatic
       | assistance.
       | 
       | What is wrong with the British government, that they even _think_
       | they get to order foreign companies to break the laws of their
       | home countries?
        
         | simmerup wrote:
         | Well they can always just not sell to the UK if it's such a
         | problem.
        
           | ben_w wrote:
           | They may well just not operate in the UK, but it remains to
           | be seen if anyone will speak openly about being given an
           | order they're not supposed to reveal the existence of, even
           | in cases where that order is to break a law passed by their
           | own government without telling their own government.
        
           | pc86 wrote:
           | Whether or not that is a reasonable response is irrelevant to
           | the fact that the law is, on its face, idiotic. How else
           | would you frame requiring someone not bound by your laws to
           | break the laws of their own country?
        
           | trinsic2 wrote:
           | We need to hit every company with a demand not to do business
           | in the UK because of this, just like we did with SOPA. IF
           | they government isn't going to be accountable then we have
           | nothing left by to hold the companies accountable ourselves.
           | I'll admit, this problem is so pervasive that literally every
           | business we use in our society could potentially be a culprit
           | :(
        
       | WhackyIdeas wrote:
       | This essentially means that companies will be able to lie about
       | certain features they are giving users, such as being able to
       | delete data or data being encrypted and because of the gag order
       | they will know that they wouldn't be allowed to tell users
       | anyway. So it cleverly allows companies to be able to advertise
       | security features whilst protecting them from the law when they
       | don't give those features...
       | 
       | Clever. And very sneaky.
        
       | bitcharmer wrote:
       | I moved here 10 years ago and this country has been in constant
       | downward spiral since then. I'm pretty sure I won't be here in
       | the next 10 year. It's insane.
        
       | trinsic2 wrote:
       | Why is this so suddenly being pushed so strongly by governments.
       | Is seems like something kicked at a hornets nest.
        
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       (page generated 2024-01-19 23:00 UTC)