Snooping fears ease as draconian rule dies a death

Campaigners against the threat of email snooping by the UK government are celebrating the death of legislation branded "draconian" by its opponents, as the so called "crypto wars" come to an end.

The reason for celebration is the death of a five-year old ruling which stated the UK government had held onto certain powers to demand access to all encrypted data.

In the 1990s, John Major's Tory government failed to push through the legislation required to introduce a system whereby government could effectively read or view any encrypted file as well as requiring all encryption firms to hold a government issued licence in return for handing over a 'skeleton key' to their products.

Despite being opposed to crypto controls when unseating the Tories in 1997 the Labour party changed its tune once in power and succumbed to requests from the US to push once more to get such measures in place, according to Ross Anderson, chair of the Foundation of Information Policy Research (FIPR) which was formed in 1998 to fight such measures.

A great deal of opposition came from banks and retailers who didn't want to have to move and innovate at the speed of government legislation when the internet was just promising to shift their businesses into a whole new previously undiscovered gear.

Although fierce opposition meant Prime Minister Tony Blair finally shelved the plans in 1999, the UK still had a ruling in place which protected the government's right to invoke this measure. That ruling was written into Part I of the Electronic Communications Act on 25 May 2000.

However, it had a five-year 'sunset clause' which matured at midnight and means it has now become obsolete.

It is this occasion opponents of such measures are now celebrating.

Anderson said: "We told government at the time there was no real conflict between privacy and security. On the encryption issue, time has proved us right. The same applies to many other issues too - so long as lawmakers take the trouble to understand a technology before they regulate it."

The phrase "crypto wars" dates back to 1970s America and refers to the power struggle between the government who wanted to hold all encryption keys and those privacy advocates and libertarians who fought this wish.

Phil Zimmermann, a FIPR advisory council member, said: "It's nice to see the last remnant of the crypto wars in Great Britain finally laid to rest, and I feel good about our win."

"Now we must focus on the other erosions of privacy in the post-9/11 world," he added.