Behind the Headlines: RIP Bill under fire

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Bill was the subject of intense dispute in this week's edition of Behind the Headlines.

Although the participants welcomed steps by the UK government to ease the financial burden for ISPs, Mary Cockcroft, managing director of Pagoda Associates, slammed the section of the Bill that deals with public key encryption - formerly part of the Ecommerce Bill. She argued that the Bill is a shocking move by the government to leverage control in the global economy.

Cockcroft said: "I think there is a bigger issue with the RIP Bill, and that's the whole issue of privacy - not the individual's privacy from a snooping government - but commercial privacy. One of the reasons the government is so keen on doing this is a major concern that the global economy will take off, and when it does - how will it be taxed?"

However, Thomas Powell, chief knowledge officer at E-cademy, countered that the RIP Bill is an important step towards a publicly managed infrastructure. "All the cost of the network should be taken on by the government, and government's role should be that of managing the network and bearing the costs to promote trade," Powell argued.

The third guest this week, Geoff Petherick, CEO of benchmarking group UKCMG, is confident that the government will find a resolution that is acceptable to telcos, ISPs and civil liberties groups. "I think the right discussions are taking place," he said.

Also up for discussion in this week's Behind the Headlines is the treatment of Internet start-up companies by high-street bank, NatWest.

To see the full Behind the Headlines programme 'Snooping; the 'e-budget', and SMEs and banking' go to our SME Channel (http://www.silicon.com/a36552 ).