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The expansion of the powers of the special services causes citizens to worry about their privacy.
Recently, the UK received the approval of the current King of the bill on changes to the Law on Investigative Powers, despite its active criticism by citizens and human rights defenders. The King's approval means that the bill will inevitably be passed, as this stage is the very last in the process of discussing and agreeing on the bill in the UK.
The changes will significantly expand the Government's digital surveillance capabilities under the Investigative Powers Act of 2016, which until then has been used by the country's intelligence services, police, and some emergency services.
According to Tom Tugendhat, the UK's Minister of Security, the expansion of investigative powers is necessary for law enforcement agencies to ensure the safety of the public. The new amendments are designed to deal with "modern threats" to national security and abuse of children.
The government claims that the changes will provide a faster and more flexible response to threats, providing the ability to collect mass data about citizens.
Among the key innovations — the ability to track the Internet connections of suspects, which will allow you to determine which services, applications or websites were connected, as well as where the user called, where he was and when it happened.
The Government has also expanded its ability to collect large amounts of people's personal data that is already publicly available. For example, this applies to video recordings from surveillance cameras or images in social networks.
Critics of the bill expressed hope that some controversial changes would be reversed due to widespread concerns about privacy violations, but the UK's position on national security remained adamant.
The trade organization techUK expressed "serious concerns" about the bill, pointing out that it was "pushed" through parliament without proper consideration. Experts stressed that the changes will weaken security mechanisms, expand surveillance powers and may lead to massive data collection of facial images, Internet records and data from social networks.
Privacy International, a human rights group, said the bill's passage was of great concern because it" weakens the already insufficient safeguards " of the Investigatory Powers Act, making it easier for citizens to be monitored en masse and giving the UK the opportunity to try to control and possibly reduce the security and privacy of Internet services used by billions of people around the world.
Of particular concern is the amendment requiring technology companies to consult with the UK government before implementing security updates to software, which critics say could undermine the country's defenses and lead to unnecessary delays in implementing key security features.
Recently, the UK received the approval of the current King of the bill on changes to the Law on Investigative Powers, despite its active criticism by citizens and human rights defenders. The King's approval means that the bill will inevitably be passed, as this stage is the very last in the process of discussing and agreeing on the bill in the UK.
The changes will significantly expand the Government's digital surveillance capabilities under the Investigative Powers Act of 2016, which until then has been used by the country's intelligence services, police, and some emergency services.
According to Tom Tugendhat, the UK's Minister of Security, the expansion of investigative powers is necessary for law enforcement agencies to ensure the safety of the public. The new amendments are designed to deal with "modern threats" to national security and abuse of children.
The government claims that the changes will provide a faster and more flexible response to threats, providing the ability to collect mass data about citizens.
Among the key innovations — the ability to track the Internet connections of suspects, which will allow you to determine which services, applications or websites were connected, as well as where the user called, where he was and when it happened.
The Government has also expanded its ability to collect large amounts of people's personal data that is already publicly available. For example, this applies to video recordings from surveillance cameras or images in social networks.
Critics of the bill expressed hope that some controversial changes would be reversed due to widespread concerns about privacy violations, but the UK's position on national security remained adamant.
The trade organization techUK expressed "serious concerns" about the bill, pointing out that it was "pushed" through parliament without proper consideration. Experts stressed that the changes will weaken security mechanisms, expand surveillance powers and may lead to massive data collection of facial images, Internet records and data from social networks.
Privacy International, a human rights group, said the bill's passage was of great concern because it" weakens the already insufficient safeguards " of the Investigatory Powers Act, making it easier for citizens to be monitored en masse and giving the UK the opportunity to try to control and possibly reduce the security and privacy of Internet services used by billions of people around the world.
Of particular concern is the amendment requiring technology companies to consult with the UK government before implementing security updates to software, which critics say could undermine the country's defenses and lead to unnecessary delays in implementing key security features.
