We’re moving one step closer to that Big Brother lifestyle, people. Very soon, the government may be able to view and track our internet communications in near enough real time.
It was in a paper obtained by the Open Rights Group yesterday, that the worrying proposal was made.
If this become a legit thing – AKA the law – the Investigatory Powers (IP) Act would be able to remove encryption on our internet doings (yep, including our Whatsapp messages). Phone and internet providers may be forced to hand over the data within one working day of it being requested.
However for this kind of action would need to be approved by the secretaries of state and a Prime Minister appointed judge. Basically, it’s unlikely that this kind of action would be taken so the government can see the d-ck pics you sent to your girl’s best mate – but they technically could if they wanted to.
BT have confirmed that they have received “a copy of draft regulations, to be made under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, in relation to technical capability notices”, but did not go into any further detail.
The Home Office have denied that anything “new” is in the works, though that’s technically not a denial…