5 years ago... Experts slam UK encryption plans

24.02.99: The government was under fire again from industry experts this week, as they claimed its plans for key escrow - which would force organisations to make encryption keys public - could hamper ecommerce development.

Representatives of banking association Apacs and Chris Reed, deputy director of the University of London's Centre for Commercial Law, were giving evidence at the third round of Trade and Industry Select Committee hearings. The committee is managing a consultation period following the publication of the government's Ecommerce White Paper.

The government wants to give third parties such as law enforcement authorities access to encryption keys, allowing them to monitor net activity for cybercrime. The business world claims the controls will make it harder for UK companies to get ecommerce off the ground, while civil rights organisations say the controls could compromise the rights of individuals to send communications privately over the internet.

Chris Reed told the committee: "The government's key escrow plans are the silliest thing they could do - they're technically and legally unworkable." Apacs representatives backed this up strongly, saying the plans would impose huge costs on the banking industry, undermine payment systems and diminish the confidence of participants in ecommerce.

Also present at the committee hearing was the National Consumer Council (NCC). Representatives asked that laws governing the protection of consumer data be re-enforced. One spokeswoman said she is concerned about the "huge potential" for abuse of consumer rights through the capability of technology to retrieve and store data.

The NCC also expressed concern about the potential for social exclusion and asked that government plans be sure to include support and training for the sector of society lacking in internet access.

The results of the hearings will contribute to the final Bill expected for release before Easter.

24.02.04:Not surprisingly, the key escrow plans, which had been drafted by the previous Conservative government to force people using encryption to hand over the key to a trusted third party in case the security services wanted a peek, were later dropped from the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.

The Labour government accepted claims from the IT industry that key escrow would be costly and unworkable.

However, despite strong opposition, the rest of the 'snooping bill' made it through Parliament mostly intact and just last year the government's £25m internet surveillance centre, run by the National Technical Assistance Centre, went live, allowing law enforcement agencies to intercept and read emails and web traffic.