Investigatory Powers Bill published and now the fight is on

Open Rights Group has been calling for a new surveillance law for years. Today, we’ve got a draft of one. Now the fight’s on to make sure the final Bill genuinely protects our rights to privacy and freedom of speech.

There’s a huge campaign ahead of us now. Can you join ORG today to help us campaign for the dangerous parts of this Bill to be taken out?

The Bill is huge and we’re going to spend the next couple of days going through it to work out exactly what’s in there and what’s not, what’s problematic, and what should stay.

So far we know that he Bill requires Internet Service Providers like Virgin, Sky and BT to store details of every website visited by their customers for 12 months so the police can access that information about us. It also authorises GCHQ’s bulk collection of Internet data by systematically tapping the cables transporting Internet traffic in and out of the UK.

We’ve been talking to the media today and over the last couple of weeks but there’s a lot more to do in the coming months.

First, we want to give politicians, the media, our members, and the public a considered analysis of how the Bill would affect the Internet, the economy, our legal system, and our rights to privacy and freedom of speech.

Then we’ll give evidence to the joint committee of Parliament who will scrutinise the Bill to push for their recommendations to include the changes we want. We’ll also support our local groups who want to lobby their Member of Parliament as the Bill reaches the Commons.

Can you join ORG today to stand up for privacy in the digital age?

We want surveillance to be targeted to those who are reasonably suspected of crimes. It’s a difficult debate and there are plenty of powerful voices on the other side to us. Join us today and add your voice to the debate.