[5089] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
U.K. Conservative Party Rejects E-Commerce Bill (was Re: NewsScan
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Robert Hettinga)
Fri Jul 9 15:51:13 1999
In-Reply-To: <199907091635.MAA03796@marcella.ecarm.org>
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 1999 13:43:17 -0400
To: dcsb@ai.mit.edu, cypherpunks@cyberpass.net, cryptography@c2.net
From: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
At 7:46 AM -0700 on 7/9/99, NewsScan wrote:
> U.K. CONSERVATIVE PARTY REJECTS E-COMMERCE BILL
> The British Conservative Party says it will block attempts to pass
> legislation that would give law enforcement officials and intelligence
> agencies access to private encrypted information. In its most controversial
> section, the proposed Electronic Communications Act empowers police to seek
> jail terms for people at ISPs and telecommunications carriers who decline to
> provide them with keys to encrypted files or communications. Opponents say
> the bill is both unrealistic and unnecessary. A report released last month
> by a Parliamentary Select Committee suggests the Blair government should
> "include measures which will promote electronic commerce, rather than
> measures discarded from the previous key escrow policy concerned with
> controlling, not facilitating, electronic commerce." (TechWeb 9 Jul 99)
> http://www.techweb.com/news/story/TWB19990709S0004
-----------------
Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
