Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000

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The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title:	Click "show"            An Act to make provision for and about the interception of communications, the acquisition and disclosure of data relating to communications, the carrying out of surveillance, the use of covert human intelligence sources and the acquisition of the means by which electronic data protected by encryption or passwords may be decrypted or accessed; to provide for Commissioners and a tribunal with functions and jurisdiction in relation to those matters, to entries on and interferences with property or with wireless telegraphy and to the carrying out of their functions by the Security Service, the Secret Intelligence Service and the Government Communications Headquarters; and for connected purposes.
Statute book chapter:	2000 c.23
Dates
Date of Royal Assent:	28 July 2000
Status: Unknown
Text of statute as originally enacted
Official text of the statute as amended and in force today within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database
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The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (c.23) (RIP or RIPA) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, regulating the powers of public bodies to carry out surveillance and investigation, and covering the interception of communications. It was introduced to take account of technological change such as the growth of the Internet and strong encryption.

RIPA can be invoked by government officials specified in the Act on the grounds of national security, and for the purposes of preventing or detecting crime, preventing disorder, public safety, protecting public health, or in the interests of the economic well-being of the United Kingdom.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on February 9, 2000 and completed its Parliamentary passage on July 26.

In September 2003, Home Secretary David Blunkett announced wide-ranging extensions to the list of those entitled to see information collected under the RIPA. The list now includes jobcentres, local councils, and the Chief Inspector of Schools. Civil rights and privacy campaigners have dubbed these extensions a "snoopers' charter". At the passing of the act only nine organisations (including the police and security services) were allowed to invoke it, but as of 2008, it was 792 organizations (including 474 councils).^[1]

Contents 1 Summary 2 Powers 3 Agencies with investigative powers 3.1 Communications data 3.2 Directed surveillance & covert human intelligence sources 3.3 Directed surveillance 4 Controversy 5 Prosecutions under the RIPA 6 References 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] Summary

The RIPA regulates the manner in which certain public bodies may conduct surveillance and access a person's electronic communications. The Act:

• enables certain public bodies to demand that an ISP provide access to a customer's communications in secret;
• enables mass surveillance of communications in transit;
• enables certain public bodies to demand ISPs fit equipment to facilitate surveillance;
• enables certain public bodies to demand that someone hand over keys to protected information;
• allows certain public bodies to monitor people's internet activities;
• prevents the existence of interception warrants and any data collected with them from being revealed in court.

[edit] Powers

Type	Typical use	Reasons for use	Type of public authority permitted to use	Level of authorisation required
Interception of a communication	Wire taps and reading post	In the interests of national security, for the purpose of preventing or detecting serious crime and for the purpose of safeguarding the economic well-being of the United Kingdom	Defence Intelligence Staff, GCHQ, HM Revenue and Customs, Secret Intelligence Service, Security Service and territorial police forces of Scotland	Warrant from Home Secretary or Cabinet Secretary for Justice
Use of communications data	Information about a communication, but not the content of that communication (phone numbers, subscriber details)	In the interests of national security, for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime or of preventing disorder, in the interests of the economic well-being of the United Kingdom, in the interests of public safety, for the purpose of protecting public health, for the purpose of assessing or collecting any tax, duty, levy or other imposition, contribution or charge payable to a government department and for the purpose, in an emergency, of preventing death or injury or any damage to a person’s physical or mental health, or of mitigating any injury or damage to a person’s physical or mental health.	As listed below	Senior member of that authority
Directed surveillance	Following people	In the interests of national security, for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime or of preventing disorder, in the interests of the economic well-being of the United Kingdom, in the interests of public safety, for the purpose of protecting public health and for the purpose of assessing or collecting any tax, duty, levy or other imposition, contribution or charge payable to a government department.	As listed below	Senior member of that authority
Covert human intelligence sources	Informers	In the interests of national security, for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime or of preventing disorder, in the interests of the economic well-being of the United Kingdom, in the interests of public safety, for the purpose of protecting public health and for the purpose of assessing or collecting any tax, duty, levy or other imposition, contribution or charge payable to a government department.	As listed below	Senior member of that authority
Intrusive surveillance	Bugging houses/vehicles	In the interests of national security, for the purpose of preventing or detecting serious crime and in the interests of the economic well-being of the United Kingdom.	GCHQ, Secret Intelligence Service, Security Service, Ministry of Defence, armed forces, Her Majesty's Prison Service or Northern Ireland Prison Service. The territorial police forces, the Ministry of Defence Police, the British Transport Police, the Royal Navy Regulating Branch, Royal Military Police, Royal Air Force Police and HM Revenue and Customs.	Authorisation from Home Secretary or Cabinet Secretary for Justice Authorisation from the head of the relevant agency: chief constable of any of the territorial police forces, the Ministry of Defence Police or the British Transport Police, the Provost Marshals of the Royal Navy Regulating Branch, Royal Military Police or the Royal Air Force Police and any customs officer designated for the purposes by the Commissioners of Revenue and Customs.

[edit] Agencies with investigative powers

[edit] Communications data

The type of communications data that can be accessed varies with the reason for its use, and cannot be adequately explained here. Refer to the legislation for more specific information.

• Charity Commission
• Criminal Cases Review Commission
• Common Services Agency for the Scottish Health Service
• a county council or district council in England, a London borough council, the Common Council of the City of London in its capacity as a local authority, the Council of the Isles of Scilly, and any county council or county borough council in Wales
• Department for Transport, for the purposes of:
  • Marine Accident Investigation Branch
  • Rail Accident Investigation Branch
  • Air Accidents Investigation Branch
  • Maritime and Coastguard Agency
• a district council within the meaning of the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972
• Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for Northern Ireland
• Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment for Northern Ireland (for the purposes of Trading Standards)
• Department of Health (for the purposes of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency)
• Department of Trade and Industry
• Environment Agency
• Financial Services Authority
• a fire and rescue authority
• Fire Authority for Northern Ireland
• Food Standards Agency
• Gambling Commission
• Gangmasters Licensing Authority
• Government Communications Headquarters
• Health and Safety Executive
• HM Revenue and Customs
• Home Office (for the purposes of the UK Border Agency)
• Independent Police Complaints Commission
• Information Commissioner
• a Joint Board where it is a fire authority
• Ofcom
• Office of Fair Trading
• The Pensions Regulator
• Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland
• Port of Dover Police
• Port of Liverpool Police
• Post Office Investigation Branch
• Postal Services Commission
• NHS ambulance service Trust
• NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service
• Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Services Trust
• Northern Ireland Health and Social Services Central Services Agency
• Royal Navy Regulating Branch
• Royal Military Police
• Royal Air Force Police
• Scottish Ambulance Service Board
• a Scottish council where it is a fire authority
• Scottish Environment Protection Agency
• Secret Intelligence Service
• Security Service
• Serious Fraud Office
• the special police forces (including the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency)
• the territorial police forces
• Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust

[edit] Directed surveillance & covert human intelligence sources

The reasons for which the use of directed surveillance & covert human intelligence sources is permitted vary with each authority. Refer to the legislation for more specific information.

• the armed forces
• Charity Commission
• Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection
• a county council or district council in England, a London borough council, the Common Council of the City of London in its capacity as a local authority, the Council of the Isles of Scilly, and any county council or county borough council in Wales
• Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (for the purposes of the Marine Fisheries Agency)
• Department of Health (for the purposes of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency)
• Department of Trade and Industry
• Department for Transport (for the purposes of transport security, Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, Driving Standards Agency and Maritime and Coastguard Agency)
• Department for Work and Pensions
• Environment Agency
• Financial Services Authority
• a fire authority
• Food Standards Agency
• Gambling Commission
• Gangmasters Licensing Authority
• Government Communications Headquarters
• Commissioners of Revenue and Customs
• Home Office (for the purposes of HM Prison Service and the UK Border Agency)
• Ministry of Defence
• National Assembly for Wales (for the purposes of the NHS Directorate, NHS Finance Division, Common Agricultural Policy Management Division and Care Standards Inspectorate for Wales)
• Northern Ireland Office (for the purposes of the Northern Ireland Prison Service)
• Ofcom
• Office of Fair Trading
• Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
• Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland
• Postal Services Commission
• Port of Dover Police
• Port of Liverpool Police
• Royal Mail
• Secret Intelligence Service
• Security Service
• Serious Fraud Office
• a territorial police force or special police force

[edit] Directed surveillance

The reasons for which the use of directed surveillance is permitted vary with each authority. Refer to the legislation for more specific information.

• Health & Safety Executive
• Information Commissioner
• Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools in England (for the purposes of the Complaints, Investigation and Enforcement Team)
• Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain

[edit] Controversy

Critics claim that the spectres of terrorism, internet crime and paedophilia were used to push the act through and that there was little substantive debate in the House of Commons. The act has numerous critics, many of whom regard the RIPA regulations as excessive and a threat to civil liberties in the UK. Critics such as Keith Vaz, the chairman of the House of Commons home affairs committee, have expressed concern that the act is being abused for "petty and vindictive" cases.^[1] Similarly, Brian Binley, MP for Northampton South has urged councils to stop using the law, accusing them of acting like comic strip detective Dick Tracy.^[2]

In April 2008, it became known that council officials in Dorset put three children and their parents under surveillance, governed by RIPA, at home and in their daily movements to check whether they lived in a particular school catchment area.^[3][4] This was in the context of rules which allow people who live in the school catchment area to enjoy advantages in obtaining a place at a popular school. The same council put fishermen under covert surveillance to check for the illegal harvesting of cockles and clams^[5] in ways that are regulated by RIPA. Other councils in the UK have conducted undercover operations regulated by RIPA against dog fouling and fly-tipping.^[1] According to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, local councils are conducting over a thousand RIPA-based covert surveillance operations every month for petty offences such as under-age smoking and breaches of planning regulations.^[1] David Smith, deputy commissioner at the ICO (Information Commissioner's Office) has stated that he is concerned about the surveillance which has taken place in Poole.^[6] In June 2008, the chairman of the Local Government Association, Sir Simon Milton, sent out a letter to the leaders of every council in England, urging local governments not to use the new powers granted by RIPA "for trivial matters", and suggested "reviewing these powers annually by an appropriate scrutiny committee".^[7]

Especially contentious was Part III of the Act, which requires persons to supply decrypted information (which had been previously encrypted by the owner) and/or the cryptographic key to government representatives. Failure to disclose these items is a criminal offence, with a maximum penalty of two years in jail. Using the mechanism of secondary legislation, some parts of the Act required activation by a ministerial order before attaining legal force. Such orders have been made in respect of the relevant sections of Part I and Part II of the RIP Act and Part III. The latter became active in October 2007.^[8] The first case where the powers were used was against animal rights activists in November 2007.^[9] It has been suggested that the "plausible deniability" features in free software such as FreeOTFE, TrueCrypt and BestCrypt will make the task of investigations featuring RIPA much more difficult.

Critics claim that the provisions of Part III are too complex, and possibly unworkable, and that this might be a reason for government reluctance to activate this part of the legislation.^{[citation needed]} Another possibility is that the government wishes to have the powers in reserve, such that if they were deemed necessary they could be implemented more quickly and easily than if new primary legislation were required.^{[citation needed]} Another possibility is that relevant government agencies might reasonably believe that it is easier to use pre-existing judicial procedures to compel production of evidence rather than the more cumbersome and difficult procedures that ultimately found their way into Part III.^{[citation needed]}

Another objection is that the Act requires sufficiently large UK Internet Service Providers to install technical systems to assist law enforcement agencies with interception activity. Although this equipment must be installed at the ISPs' expense, RIPA does provide that Parliament will examine appropriate funding for ISPs if the cost burden became unfairly high.

[edit] Prosecutions under the RIPA

A number of offences have been prosecuted involving the abuse of investigatory powers. Widely reported cases include the Stanford/Liddell case, the Goodman/Mulcaire Royal voicemail interception, and Operation Barbatus.

Cliff Stanford, and George Nelson Liddell pleaded guilty to offences under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (and the Computer Misuse Act) in 2005. They were found to have intercepted emails at the company Redbus Interhouse^[10]. Stanford was sentenced to six months imprisonment suspended for two years, and fined £20,000. It was alleged Stanford had intercepted emails between Dame Shirley Porter and John Porter (Chairman of Redbus Interhouse). ^[11] In 2007, News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman was sentenced to four months in jail for intercepting the voicemail of members of the Royal Family^[12]. His partner Glenn Mulcaire received a six month sentence.

In 2007, Operation Barbatus exposed a sophisticated criminal surveillance business organised by corrupt police officers.^[13] A former Metropolitan Police officer, Jeremy Young was jailed for 27 months for various offences including six counts of conspiracy to intercept communications unlawfully^[14]. A second former policeman Scott Gelsthorpe, was sentenced to 24 months for offences including conspiracy to intercept communications unlawfully. 3 other former police officers and a private detective were also jailed for their part in running a private detective agency called Active Investigation Services^[15].

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Human Rights Act 1998
• Mass surveillance
• Rubber-hose cryptanalysis
• Plausible deniability
• Interception Modernisation Programme
• United States v. Boucher, a case in the US courts which determined that a criminal defendant cannot can be forced to reveal his encryption passphrase.

[edit] External links

• Official text of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 as amended and in force today within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database
• The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, as originally enacted, from the Office of Public Sector Information.
• Explanatory notes to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 from the Office of Public Sector Information.
• Regulation of Investigatory Powers Information Centre (against RIP)
• Parliament "didn't understand RIP Act"
• Articles on aspects of RIPA and Surveillance Law
• BBC News Website (April 2008) - RIPA Spy law 'used in dog fouling war'

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