How would you feel if you know your every move was being tracked?

Each and every day we see new laws and governing body's set-up to try and keep the net in order and make yet more money out of it. To many it represents governments and authorities trying to control us and take our individuality away even more. Think about it, if this bill went through with next to no media coverage and opposition, then what does that say about future bills and systems of the same?

Before long everything from what we say on ICQ or IRC to what web sites we browse could be used or viewed by the authorities with precision. They could technically invade our life three dimensionally through such measures, some would say they already can, but you get the idea.

Everything has a flaw

Nothings perfect and ironically that's what people are most worried about with the RIP Systems, the fact that they leave doors wide open for miss conduct and abuse even by trusted authorities. The following is an extract from the finalised RIP Bill to help prove a point:

19. The primary aim of Article 5 of the Telecoms Data Protection Directive is to safeguard the confidentiality of communications and, thereby, to protect the fundamental right to personal privacy. The intention of Articles 5(2) is to allow interceptions only when there are strong arguments that the provision of evidence should be considered more important than the protection of confidentiality or privacy.

20. The draft regulations authorise businesses and public authorities to intercept communications without consent for the following purposes:

(a) providing evidence of a communication in cases where it may be necessary to provide records of the specific facts of individual communications, e.g. -

• Providing evidence of a commercial transaction.
• Providing evidence of other business communications to establish facts or ascertain compliance with regulatory practices or procedures.
• Audit.
• Debt recovery.
• Dispute resolution.

(b) detecting and preventing crime, and detecting the unauthorised use of a telecoms system, e.g. -

• Preventing or detecting crime.
• Detecting the unauthorised use of an electronic communications system.
• Protecting a network against viruses or hackers.
• Combating or investigating fraud or corruption.

The draft regulations also authorise public authorities, but not businesses, to intercept communications without consent in the interests of national security.

Take specific note of rule 20 here, "The draft regulations authorise businesses and public authorities to intercept communications without consent for the following purposes". To put it another way, they don't even need a court order or some sort of legal agreement like you have to search a house to search your E-Mail.

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