//psy:005
'E-commerce vs. Civil Liberty … Round One'_Matt Hardisty.
Printable
version
The immanent introduction of the 'Regulation
of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Bill' in October 2000 has served to raise a
number of questions regarding civil liberty. Addressing the issue of encryption
and access to encrypted data, not covered in the Electronic Commerce Bill,
the government sees the RIP Bill as a means of protecting national security,
preventing crime and securing public health. Charles Clarke from the Home
Office says: "The Bill tackles a big issue - the balance between protecting
individual rights and ensuring that effective powers are in place to catch
criminals". The bill ensures that every ISP will have a black box that
monitors all the data traffic passing through its computers, hard wired to
a special centre installed in M15s London HQ. The Home Secretary therefore
has the power to issue warrants to the ISPs to intercept communications of
subscribers. It is becoming increasingly apparent that commercial forces are
shaping the architecture of the Internet and that the commercial potential
of the Internet will not develop until such architecture is in place. These
developments are posing novel trade-offs between law enforcement, commercial
progress and individual liberty (privacy).
The use of customer information is at the heart of the debate, given the increase
in online purchase power wielded by consumers, meaning that vendors will have
access to rich profiles of shopping and buying patterns. Verdict's latest
research indicates that by 2005, shoppers will spend more than £12.5
billion online. The success of e-commerce companies will therefore become
a question of public trust, especially given the recent case against Double
Click, which were found to be fusing two databases without the knowledge of
their customers.
There is the fear that increased costs will be born by individual business,
due to an impending increase in the number of civil liberty cases taken up
by consumers regarding data abuse. There is also the additional danger that
Tony Blair's vision of the UK being the global hot bed of e-commerce by 2002
is under threat, with companies moving to Ireland where encryption keys are
protected from the government. Business however, needs a secure environment
in which to trade and consumers need a degree of reassurance during digital
transaction.
matt@folkdevil.com