Government deigns to talk to ISPs on encryption

UK Home Office officials met with the Internet hub, the London Internet Exchange (Linx) yesterday to thrash out concerns amongst Internet service providers about the Investigatory Powers Bill.

The Home Office is refusing to have a formal consultation over controversial issues included in the Bill, such as the potentially crippling costs of email interception for ISPs in order for police to access encrypted material. However, it has somewhat mollified ISPs by agreeing to have meetings on an ad hoc basis.

Although there will be no formal consultation on principal proposals in the primary legislation, Roland Perry, regulation officer for Linx, said he had received "strong hints" that there will be consultation on secondary legislation, "covering the scope of intercepts and who would pay the cost."

Perry said he had been "reassured that the channels of communication are open," but "it is too early to say if it will all pan out."

"It's the first step in a process of discussion, so that industry understands what the law enforcement's aspirations are and they understand what capabilities we have and the real cost," he added.

Perry said he was also comforted that the Bill "will not be pulled out of someone's back pocket and rushed through. It will be introduced some time in the New Year, but they want it to go through this Parliamentary session [ending next October]."

Linx expects to meet regularly with officials over the next six months and welcomed the opportunity to put the views of ISPs forward."It is essential we have further consultation," Perry said.