Snooping Bill report attacks 'one size fits all' policy

NEWS The Home Office has published an independent report on the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Bill, which warns the government not to take a blanket policy approach to the legislation. The bill as it stands now, puts the same fiscal burden on all ISPs, regardless of size. The research carried out by ebusiness consultancy The Smith Group, examined the technical and cost issues surrounding the implementation of the RIP Bill, and Colin Evans, MD of the firm's information security division, said: "There's no 'one size fits all' approach for Internet Service Providers (ISPs)." ISPs will almost certainly face drastically different costs depending on their size, how many points of presence (POPs) they have, and the final form the legislation takes. Although the costs of implementing the Bill have been deemed onerous by some ISPs, Roland Perry, director legal affairs at London Internet Exchange (Linx), said most ISPs will welcome the idea of 'passive' surveillance - where police can constantly tap all of an ISP's traffic - seems to be ruled out. The report advocates this only to be used on a case by case basis. He called that tactic "too intrusive". The 'active email option' - where copies of suspect email must be passed on - is deemed appropriate for all ISPs, and this is called "a relatively low cost approach" in the Smith Group report. A spokesman for the Home Office said: "The report should not be taken as government policy at this stage, but we're keeping up a positive dialogue with ISPs on the intercept capability." Formal industry responses are expected over the next two weeks.