Theresa May's Proposed Spying Law Is 'Worse Than Scary' United Nations Says

THE INDEPENDENT: The draft Investigatory Powers Bill would give the Government sweeping new spying powers

Theresa May’s proposed surveillance and spying laws are “worse than scary”, the United Nations’ privacy chief has said.

Joseph Cannataci, the UN's special rapporteur on privacy, said the draft Investigatory Powers Bill heralded a “golden age of surveillance” unlike any that had come before.

The draft law, published by the Home Secretary earlier this month, would require internet companies to hand over any and all of their users’ communications as required by authorities.

Other provisions in the bill require the visited websites of all users to be stored on record for a year.

Technical experts have said that the proposed rules on intercepting communications could lead to some services like WhatsApp and iMessage to be de-facto banned because their secure encryption makes it impossible for their host companies to read users’ messages. Read on and comment » | Jon Stone | Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Theresa May Unveils UK Surveillance Measures In Wake Of Snowden Claims

THE GUARDIAN: Spy agencies will be able to track everyone’s internet use without warrant / UK governments have signed secret orders on data collection for years


New surveillance powers will be given to the police and security services, allowing them to access records tracking every UK citizen’s use of the internet without any judicial check, under the provisions of the draft investigatory powers bill unveiled by Theresa May.

It includes new powers requiring internet and phone companies to keep “internet connection records” – tracking every website visited but not every page – for a maximum of 12 months but will not require a warrant for the police, security services or other bodies to access the data. Local authorities will be banned from accessing internet records. » | Alan Travis Patrick Wintour and Ewen MacAskill | Wednesday, November 4, 2015

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Theresa May: Internet Data Will Be Recorded Under New Spy Laws: Breathtaking Attack on Liberty

Home Secretary sets out new spying laws which will force internet firms to help spies to hack into computers