Latest is that the UK's horrendous mish-mash of Internet surveillance and decryption/key (actually government-issued) "warrants" legislation is facing extreme opposition in our House of Lords. Unfortunately, the Government seems intent on driving the bill through Parliament (as they have the power to do against the unelected Lords). Businesses considering UK investments might find the following useful. Its author worked at the UK Ministry of Defence for 35 years, rising to a very senior level in their COMSEC office. Further information is at http://www.fipr.org/rip/ From: Brian Gladman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: ukcrypto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: UK E-Commerce Business Alert Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 15:48:01 +0100 UK E-COMMERCE BUSINESS ALERT I have put up a page at: http://www.btinternet.com/~brian.gladman/rip.html as a preliminary warning to companies about the need to consider RIP legislation before they create an e-commerce presence in the UK. I have advised all such companies not to abandon plans for such a presence but to put their plans on hold until the situation with RIP legislation becomes clearer. I have also advised companies to develop contingency plans for locating in Ireland or Germany in the event that RIP is enacted without significant change. I have also put up the following document: http://www.btinternet.com/~brian.gladman/res.pdf as a response to the Home Office comments on a number of aspects of the report written for the British Chamber of Commerce by the London School of Economics on the economic impact of RIP. My comments show, in particular: 1) That the Home Office suggestion that there are 'major inaccuracies' in the business risks identified in this report is completely flawed. Moreover, it is disingenuous, since these risks cannot be quantified as a direct result of the Home Office refusal to provide the information needed to do this. 2) The Government has admitted that information that it classifies as SECRET will not be protected to the standards that it sets for such information because the costs would be too high. In effect other people's information will not be treated with the same care as the Government treats its own information. I hope that people on this list will develop links to this page so that they can help to alert companies to the actions of the UK Government in seeking to undermine the safety, security and privacy of UK citizens and UK located businesses with this pernicious piece of legislation. Dr Brian Gladman (http://www.gladman.uk.net)
