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                Date: 2000-06-12
                 
                 
                UK: Berners-Lee zu ENFOPOL neu
                
                 
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      q/depesche  00.6.12/1 
 
UK: Berners-Lee zu ENFOPOL reginonal 
 
Tim Berners-Lee, personaliter & gewichtsmäßig nicht weiter  
kommentierbar über die RIP-Bill im UK - der bisher treuesten  
nationalen Umsetzung von ENFOPOL   
 
post/skrypt: Am Werke sind mit dem UK wieder einemal die  
Eif/rigsten der Ei/frigen in Europa - erstaunlich. Die erz- haupt  
& staats/hegelianische Nation Nummer 1 FR  wird sich neu  
deklarieren müssen im Zeitalter der tribalistischen  
Generalüberwachung. Ausgerufen von jenen, die nicht mal  
genau wissen, ob sie mehr Sachsen oder mehr Angeln sind.   
 
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Jamie Doward Sunday June 11, 2000 
 
Tim Berners-Lee, regarded as the father of the world wide  
web, has launched a blistering attack on government plans to  
give the security services sweeping powers to intercept  
emails and monitor traffic on the internet. The computer  
scientist who invented the technologies which underpin the  
web told The Observer that the Regulation of Investigatory  
Powers Bill would stifle the development of the internet. 
 
He said the Bill - now going through the House of Lords -  
would have been thrown out 'in a second' in the US. 'It gives a  
government great power to abuse personal and commercial  
innovation.' 
 
Once the Bill becomes law every internet service provider  
(ISP) in the UK will be required to install a link to the security  
services, whichwill then be able to monitor internet traffic.  
Security services will be able to find out which websites  
users look at, which pages they download, and which  
chatrooms or discussion groups they frequent. 
 
Even more controversially, the Bill gives the Home Secretary  
the power to demand the surrender of keys to en-crypted  
data - a proposal which has been fiercely criticised by civil  
liberties and business organisations alike. 
 
Other campaigners have pointed out that the Bill does not  
recognise the global nature of the internet and is therefore  
doomed to failure. 
 
Berners-Lee believes the Bill fails to make governments  
accountable for their actions: 'There's very little protection.  
There's no recourse if your information has been pilfered by  
the Government, and even if it comes to light there is very  
little you can do.' 
 
He is also concerned that third parties will be unable to  
monitor the authorities' actions: 'Is there any way the press  
can ever find out to what extent this is happening? Is there  
any independent agency which has the right to follow up  
every request and find out statistically to what extent some of  
these things were just abuses of power?' 
 
Some commentators claim that an unregulated internet is far  
more dangerous than the threat of a strong-armed  
Government. They cite the example of David Copeland,  
currently being tried at the Old Bailey for causing bomb  
explosions in London, who allegedly found out how to make  
bombs on the web. 
 
But Berners-Lee argues that you cannot shoot the  
messenger. 'The internet is an enabling technology.  
Information has always been powerful and suddenly we have  
a much more powerful information tool, and this poses  
challenges to society to use it for good rather than bad.' 
 
His attack comes days after the Bill was attacked by the  
Institute of Directors. Professor Jim Norton, head of e- 
business policy, expressed fears that the Bill could be  
interpreted too broadly - giving government excessive powers  
and even forcing companies to move abroad. 
 
'Is it really the intention to provide Inland Revenue or VAT  
inspectors or DTI company investigators with these powers?'  
he said. Many companies were worried, 'especially  
multinationals who contrast the proposed UK legislation with  
far more business-friendly proposals in Ireland, France,  
Germany and even the US.' 
 
The Government will come under further pressure later this  
week when the London School of Economics releases a  
research paper highly critical of the Bill. The paper -  
commissioned by the British Chamber of Commerce - will  
argue that the Bill risks inflicting serious damage to both  
business and civil liberties 
 
More 
http://www.observer.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,330725,00.html  
 
 
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edited by Harkank 
published on: 2000-06-12 
comments to office@quintessenz.at
                   
                  
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