Government won't pay its way on RIP

Industry experts have slammed the Government's £20m estimation for implementing the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Act, claiming it is inadequate.

Following research by consultants The Smith Group, the Home Office believes that the sum will cover costs incurred by service providers to install monitoring equipment and to implement the controversial legislation.

The Government has set aside the money to pay compliance costs for smaller communication service providers and to contribute to larger providers' costs.

Pamela Taylor, senior ebusiness policy advisor at the Confederation of British Industry, said the Home Office wanted something for nothing.

"In any business, customers pay for services that have been provided. Implementing the RIP Act is a service that communication providers will provide to government and law enforcement agencies. Why shouldn't they pay?" she asked.

Taylor added that the Government was discriminating against larger service providers on the grounds that they could better afford it.

"The Government has said it will help meet implementation costs for smaller telecoms providers. But when the legislation was before Parliament, they themselves said it was more likely that larger providers would be affected," she said.

Stephan Schindler, European managing director at email management specialist Sendmail, said £20m would be a drop in the ocean for providers.

"Even though new technology has brought prices down recently, we are still talking about hundreds to several hundred thousand pounds, depending on the size of the service provider and the volume of traffic."

He pointed out that there would also be human resources and management overheads.

A Home Office spokesman said that larger companies should shoulder some of the costs of policing their networks. "We'd argue that we all have a responsibility to contribute to creating a lawful society," he said.

Taylor complained that the terms of the code were too vague. "There's no proper definition of what a communication service provider is, and that's obviously deliberate."

She added that the Government could expect a robust response from the industry before the consultation ends on 2 November.

See also:

Exposing RIP's private parts

Adele Dyer presents the pros and cons of this most controversial piece of legislation.  08 Jan 2002

UK web laws to be tightened

Government may tap internet use, says science minister  03 Oct 2001

Blair and Straw RIP apart

Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary at odds over RIP  01 Oct 2001

UK police check ISP records

National High-Tech Crime Unit assists FBI in terrorist search  13 Sep 2001

Government finally publishes RIP Act rules

Police can get account and subscriber information to 'prevent disorder'.  13 Aug 2001

Cabinet reshuffle 'good news for IT'

Douglas Alexander, the Paisley South MP who helped co-ordinate Labour's general election campaign, has won his first government job in the Department of Trade and Industry.  12 Jun 2001

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