IP: U.K. email spy law costly and undemocratic, opponents say

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

>Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2000 08:40:24 -0400
>From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
>To: politech@politechbot.com
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>Email spy law 'costly and undemocratic'
>http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/politics/story/0,3604,370632,00.html
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>Civil liberties
>
>Net news
>Special report: Liberal Democrat party conference 2000
>
>Sarah Hall
>Wednesday September 20, 2000
>
>Controversial new laws allowing the government to "spy" on emails were not
>only a severe threat to human rights and civil liberties but would undermine
>Britain's hopes of being a leading centre for e-commerce, the Liberal
>Democrats heard yesterday.
>
>The estimated cost of implementing email monitoring equipment would be £640m
>over the next five years, while the overall cost to the economy would be
>around £50bn, according to the CBI, said the Trade and Industry spokesman
>Vincent Cable.
>
>Dr Cable said: "This is a civil liberties issue, but we can't disregard the
>fact that this will impose an enormous regulatory burden on what should be
>one of our high growth economic sectors, and it's unnecessary and damaging.
>
>"I'd shy away from calling it a stealth tax, because that's what Mr Hague
>would call it, but it's an attempt to impose the cost of regulation on
>industry. If the government wants industry to be spies, it should pay for
>it."
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>[...]
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