One of the biggest new pieces of legislation in 2016 will be the Investigatory Powers Act – due to be presented in March and in force for some parts by end of 2016 before DRIPA expires.
My prediction is that there will not be huge changes from the current draft bill, sadly.
As MD of a small ISP, we are very concerned over the data retention provisions – whilst the Home Office say that they do not expect them to target small ISPs, once it is law they could change their mind. They do not even guarantee cost recovery in the draft bill.
I do predict that the “Internet Connection Records” they want will not be very useful, just as was found in Denmark, and they are easily bypassed by the dumbest of criminals using Tor or VPNs outside the UK. They are also likely to be less and less complete as 4G mobile operators stop using web proxies and IPv6 kills the need for Carrier Grade NAT in networks – the main sources of this new “web log” type data retention.
I think everyone has concerns over the GCHQ powers, being legalised rather than quashed. I’d love to see some of these measures reduced before it becomes law as a result of pressure from privacy groups or even European court decisions in related areas.
Rev. Adrian Kennard is the MD of UK-based ISP Andrews & Arnold Ltd – Twitter: @The RealRevK
