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By Felicity Ussher, 20 March 2000 00:30

NEWS The Home Office is considering a U-turn over covering the costs of industry compliance with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill. Charles Clarke, Home Office minister, revealed to Silicon.com last week that the HO is considering funding the technology which ISPs fear could be costly. The Bill - which is currently at committee stage - grants police powers to open encrypted emails when investigating a crime. It also defines when the police may demand access to people's decryption keys. ISPs have argued that the cost of setting up a capability to intercept emails from all other service providers could be prohibitive, and they warned, may even force smaller ISPs out of business. He told Silicon.com: "We are empowered in the Bill to do so. The Bill gives the Home Office the power to assist with the funding of [compliance], and the precise amount and nature and circumstances will depend on some detailed analyses that we're doing at the moment." The Home Office has employed an external contractor to evaluate the costs of compliance in detail. It is also discussing with ISPs, in Clarke's words, "precisely what costs they think they have". Officials could not reveal the name of the contractor. However, the survey is due to be published while the Bill is still in Parliament. Clarke added: "It's not our intention to put any cost on a particular ISP which would cause real difficulties for them, and we don't believe our proposals would have that effect. But we acknowledge the fears are real, which is why we're discussing it so intensively with the industry." The Bill has had two readings before the House of Commons and now faces eight sessions of committee discussion, led by Charles Clarke, before returning to the Commons. It will then proceed to the House of Lords for further readings.