IP Bill passed by Parliament - will become law within weeks

Privacy groups warn of a 'draconian' era of government surveillance

The Investigatory Powers Bill (IP Bill) has been passed by Parliament.

The so-called Snoopers' Charter was passed by the House of Lords yesterday following a final debate examining various amendments.

The Bill will therefore become law within weeks, legalising a number of secret service activities that were ruled unlawful only in October.

The Investigatory Powers Act will replace section 94 of the Telecommunications Act 1984, which in the past has been used as an Enabling Act allowing a wide range of electronic surveillance by various arms of the state.

Internet and phone companies will be required to store comprehensive records of websites visited and phone numbers called for 12 months, and to enable police, security services and multiple other public-sector bodies to access those records on demand.

The new law will also provide the security services with the legal power to collect personal communications data in bulk, and give police and security services the explicit power to hack and bug computers, smartphones and other devices. Most of these powers will only require the approval of the Home Secretary.

Privacy groups have been quick to condemn the passing of the Bill, warning that it will see a further diminution of the rights of citizens to privacy and data protection.

Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group (ORG), warned that the new law will also likely see other countries move to shore up their own surveillance powers.

"The passing of the IP Bill will have an impact that goes beyond the UK's shores. It is likely that other countries, including authoritarian regimes with poor human rights records, will use this law to justify their own intrusive surveillance powers," he said.

"The IP Bill will put into statute the powers and capabilities revealed by Snowden as well as increasing surveillance by the police and other government departments. There will continue to be a lack of privacy protections for international data sharing arrangements with the US. Parliament has also failed to address the implications of the technical integration of GCHQ and the NSA."

However, Killock noted that given the severity of these planned surveillance powers, some aspects of the Bill may be ruled as unlawful next year, resulting in amendments.

"While parliamentarians have failed to limit these powers, the courts may succeed. A ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union expected next year may mean that parts of the Bill are shown to be unlawful and need to be amended," he said, vowing to fight the 'draconian' law.

Harmit Kambo, campaigns director at Privacy International, said that while the government has made promises the new surveillance powers will be subject to constraints, the passing of the Bill will inevitably see privacy rights eroded over time.

"As the IP Bill becomes law, the government continues to reassure us that their powers will be constrained by a robust legal framework and safeguards," Kambo said.

"More fundamentally, they have argued that it's OK for a mature democracy to have sweeping surveillance powers because a mature democracy has enough checks and balances to prevent state surveillance becoming about state power over all of us.

"But we will always argue that you don't pass laws based on what the government of today intends to do with those powers, but on how a very different government of tomorrow might use those same powers to go so much further.

"If that sounds paranoid, you only have to look at the convulsions that our democracies are facing. Brexit is going to mean that we may have much lower data protection in the UK in the future, very possibly accompanied by us exiting the European Convention of Human Rights. What little protection we already have over our personal data will be further diminished."

Kambo said that the issue of the UK's cooperation with the US in surveillance matters has come to a head following the election of Donald Trump.

"We have the special relationship with the US. Our relationship with them is at it's most special when you look at how our surveillance agencies, in particular the UK's GCHQ and the US' NSA work so closely together.

"What will that mean once Donald Trump has the NSA under his control? Referring to the hack of the Democratic National Committee's emails, he commented 'I wish I had that power. Man, that would be power'.

"So, when the UK government reassures us that their surveillance machine is under control, we must remember that not only are our protections fast diminishing, our closest political ally may have ambitious and dangerous plans for this machine that has been created."