By Sally Watson, 13 June 2000 17:51
NEWS The government's controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Bill came under attack yesterday in the House of Lords. During a five and a half-hour debate peers discussed 48 amendments to the first eleven clauses of the Bill. Lord Lucas expressed concern that access to email and http (hypertext transfer protocol) requests should only be allowed with a warrant. "It appears that under Amendment No 22, which is drafted to deal with a real and specific ill, it is quite likely that this government have opened up to inspection by all sorts of people a whole wealth of information which was not otherwise intended to be open in this Bill," he told the House. "That seems a wrong-headed approach to the individual's rights and civil liberties. If such information is required, the government can obtain it through a warrant. That may a little tiresome but can be done," Lord Lucas added. Speaking to silicon.com, Conservative peer Lord John Cope, who strongly opposes the Bill, said: "At the moment the government shows no sign of giving way on anything serious." According to Lord Cope the most controversial clauses have yet to be debated, but opposition peers have little hope the Bill will be thrown out. "At the moment we are looking for small ways to make the Bill more palatable to reassure business," he said. A total of 229 amendments have been tabled, the rest will be debated on 19 and 20 June.
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