Civil Liberties Crackdown in the UK

If the UK is any indication, it's going to get really ugly here, really soon: the crackdown on your civil liberties in the Internet arena is coming, and it's not going to be a pretty thing. Need to Know reports on Friday on the newest bit of cyberfascist legislation in the UK. Is this going to be a model for new legislation in the US? The way Blair and Clinton's regimes have been tied at the neoliberal hip makes it all too likely.

the REGULATION OF INVESTIGATORY POWERS BILL will get its second reading in the Commons. Then it goes to committee, then it becomes law, and then you'll never hear from it again, because talking about most of its powers will get you five years in prison. So, when the police ask your ISP to put a tap on your mail, you won't hear about it. When your local trades and standards officer decides to take a look at your browser log for the last month, you won't hear about it. And when they come and get your private encryption key so that can read your friend's mails, you won't be able to tell your friend - or us - that it happened. Hell, you won't even be able to change your key if that might give us a clue.

Some nice electronic-activist-types in the UK have written a guide to understanding the proposed, and imminent, Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Bill. Hmm, "RIP" indeed; that acronym seems strangely foresighted as the bill signs the death warrant of strong online privacy rights in the UK, and may well toll the bell for our own rights in America as well.

If you give a damn about your online rights, I strongly urge you to read the Guide to RIP. It's chilling.