Trades Unions call for urgent Snooping Bill clarification

Two of the UK's trades unions are warning that the government's Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Bill is in urgent need of clarification.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) and The Manufacturing Science and Finance union (MSF) both claim the legislation could leave their members' email communications vulnerable to unwarranted snooping.

Peter Skyte, head of the IT Professionals Association at the MSF, told silicon.com the Bill was ill-conceived. He said: "The Bill as currently drafted could enable the legitimate activities of trades union members and trades union representatives to be monitored. We don't see the need for that."

Sarah Veale, employment policy officer at the TUC, said the legislation could leave union members susceptible to undue suspicion. "It's going to be very difficult for us," Veale said. "The Bill has been rushed through - it needs a lot more thought."

The TUC represents over 70 unions in the UK, including UNISON, MSF and the Transport and General Workers Union. Veale said: "In a sense this is not new, unions have been spied on for a long time."

Veale added that if the Bill went through unchanged, unions would have to start being a lot more careful about their electronic communications. "The knock on affects could be huge," she said.

In particular, controversy surrounds one of the definitions of "serious crime" in Part V of the Bill, which refers to "conduct by a large number of persons in pursuit of a common purpose".

According to Michael Ryan, head of the telecommunications practice at law firm Arnold & Porter, it's a definition that has not been seriously addressed by the government. "The concept that the actions of a large number of people could trigger an investigation is unique to this Bill," he said.

"There is still a serious problem here that hasn't been addressed. It puts unique powers in the hands of persons well below the ministerial level," Ryan added.

According to Simon Davies, director of campaign group Privacy International, many UK unions believe the government's recent amendments have solved the Bill's problem. "The perception is that the fight has been won," he said. "But it's not over. There is the potential to reform this Bill, but it needs a bigger effort of cross-community response."

Skyte hopes the controversy surrounding the Bill will have a knock-on affect for employees who face surveillance in the workplace. "We welcome the fact that employers are now complaining about the ability of government agencies to monitor their activities - but we hope that those same employers will think again about monitoring the internet and email activity of their own employees," he said.

The government is due to release an amended draft of the Bill today, which will go into report stage in the House of Lords next week.

The Home Office was unavailable for comment.