Britain’s royal monarch on Tuesday signed off on legislation granting sweeping digital surveillance powers to intelligence agencies and law enforcement officials notwithstanding privacy concerns raised by what critics have derogatorily dubbed the “Snoopers Charter.”
Officially titled the Investigatory Powers Act, the legislation requires internet providers to record each of their customers’ browsing habits for a full year so that a list of visited websites can be made available if requested by authorities. It also grants investigators the power to hack into computers for intelligence gathering purposes, and codified other new and existing surveillance capabilities.
The legislation was passed Nov. 19 by Parliament, but required the queen’s signature in order to receive royal assent and be formally signed into law. Its provisions will largely replace similar authorities afforded under a law slated to sunset on Dec. 31.
In a statement, the U.K. Home Office said the law “brings together and updates existing powers while radically overhauling how they are authorized and overseen.”
“This government is clear that, at a time of heightened security threat, it is essential our law enforcement, security and intelligence services have the powers they need to keep people safe,” U.K. Home Secretary Amber Rudd said Tuesday after Queen Elizabeth autographed the bill. “The internet presents new opportunities for terrorists and we must ensure we have the capabilities to confront this challenge. But it is also right that these powers are subject to strict safeguards and rigorous oversight.”
Regardless of any potential protections in place, critics have condemned the so-called Snoopers’ Charter for codifying practices deemed detrimental to the public’s privacy and security alike.
“This snoopers charter has no place in a modern democracy — it undermines our fundamental rights online,” said Tim Berners-Lee, an English computer scientist widely regarded as the inventor of the World Wide Web.
“The bulk collection of everyone’s internet browsing data is disproportionate, creates a security nightmare for the ISPs who must store the data — and rides roughshod over our right to privacy,” he told BBC. “Meanwhile, the bulk-hacking powers in the bill risk making the internet less safe for everyone.
Edward Snowden, the former U.S. intelligence contractor who helped expose his nation’s own digital spy operations, called the law “the most extreme surveillance in the history of Western democracy,” and said it “goes further than many autocracies.”
“It is the most intrusive and least accountable surveillance regime in the West,” Mr. Snowden tweeted earlier this month.
In addition to attracting big name opposition, an online petition calling on the legislation to be repealed managed to garner more than 139,000 signatures Tuesday on Parliament’s official website. Parliament considers petitions that garner 100,000 signatures of more, according to the website, and is expected to provide a date within three days for the legislation to be debated post-royal assent.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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