News, Policy

Joint submission of Evidence to Joint Committee on Human Rights

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The UK Chapter has made a joint submission with the Internet Society in response to the call for evidence that was published by the Joint Committee on Human Rights regarding the Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) is a Parliamentary Joint Committee whose main function is to examine all bills and legislative instruments for compatibility with human rights, and to report to both Houses of Parliament on its findings.

The Joint Submission can be found here:

Internet-Society_call-for-evidence_IPA-1Download

The deadline for submitting evidence was Monday 22 January 2024.… Read more ...

News

Joint Briefing on Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill [HL]

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The UK England Chapter of the Internet Society has joined the Internet Society as well as Big Brother Watch, The Open Rights Group, Privacy International, Liberty and Rights & Security International in drafting a briefing that was distributed to Lords prior to the Report Hearing at the House of Lords on 23 January 2024.

The original Investigatory Powers Act 2016 (IPA) is highly controversial in that it authorised massive, suspicionless surveillance on a scale never seen before, with few safeguards or independent oversight.… Read more ...

News, Policy

Controversial Data Protection Bill pushed through UK House of Commons

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On Wednesday 29 November 2023, the UK Government brought back the “Data Protection and Digital Information Bill” to life by having a second reading in the House of Commons. The first version of the Bill, proposed by Nadine Dories in July 2022, was actually withdrawn on 8 March 2023 after having had only one reading in the House of Commons – a withdrawal explained by one MP as being a consequence of how inappropriate the Bill’s contents were.

But Wednesday, the Government pushed it through for a second reading in the House of Commons, along with hundreds of amendments, and judging from the exchanges it is well understood that the Bill is filled with controversial proposals giving the Government broad powers, together risking turning the UK into a surveillance state, from the ability for the Government to monitor State benefit recipient’s bank accounts, to having access to significant voter data for electoral purposes.… Read more ...

News, Policy

Joint statement of scientists and NGOs on the EU’s proposed eIDAS reform

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On 2 November 2023, the Internet Society UK Chapter has joined 500 cyber security experts, researchers and NGOs to sign an open letter sounding the alarm about the European Union’s proposed eIDAS reform.

After years of legislative process, the near-final text of the eIDAS regulation has been agreed by trialogue negotiators1 representing EU’s key bodies and will be presented to the public and parliament for a rubber stamp before the end of the year. New legislative articles, introduced in recent closed-door meetings and not yet public, envision that all web browsers distributed in Europe will be required to trust the certificate authorities and cryptographic keys selected by EU governments.… Read more ...

News

ISOC UK England Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2023

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Please join us on 20 November 2023 for the Chapter’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2023 which will take place as a hybrid meeting, both online and in person.

Remote participation online – there are two separate sessions that you need to register for:

Register for the pre-AGM Fireside Chat 17:00-17:45

Register for the ISOC UK AGM 2023 Zoom Meeting 18:00-20:00

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing the Zoom links to join the meetings.

Also in person at the London School of Economics:

London School Of Economics, Silverstone Room, Department of Media and Communications – but in order to gain access you absolutely need to register.… Read more ...

News

Global Encryption Coalition statement

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The Global Encryption Coalition has published a statement for Global Encryption day.

ISOC UK joins 200 organisations calling for policies and companies to protect and enhance encryption

The Statement

“Strong encryption is a critical technology that helps keep people, their information, and communications private and secure. It underpins online trust, protects members of vulnerable communities, and safeguards the data of governments, businesses, and citizens from criminals and other malicious actors.

However, some governments and organizations are pushing to weaken encryption, which would create a dangerous precedent that compromises the security and privacy of billions of people around the world.… Read more ...

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