THIS magazine recently had the temerity to report that under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 the government wants common-or-garden government departments to have snooper鈥檚 rights to cyberspace data (快猫短视频, 22 June, p 3). I put the claim to Michael Wills, junior Home Office minister for IT and e-government policy, to gauge his reaction.
Wills replied that the act is not about giving access to the content of anybody鈥檚 communications but to data about those communications, such as itemised details of someone鈥檚 telephone calls. Such data can be an important investigative tool, and in some cases a lifesaving one. The primary purpose of RIPA is to put in place a framework for regulating covert investigative powers that is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.
All sorts of authorities apply for access to such data through voluntary arrangements under the Data Protection Act, Wills said. When it comes into full force, the RIPA will establish a power to require a communications service provider to disclose data if served with a properly authorised notice to do so.
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He pointed out that various statutory requirements must be met before such a notice can be given. The authorising officer must be satisfied that the notice is necessary and proportionate for one of the statutory purposes鈥� for example, safeguarding national security and preventing or detecting crime. An interception commissioner will oversee this area, and there will be an avenue of complaint to the independent Investigatory Powers Tribunal.
Critics of the act tell me it鈥檚 still too full of holes. Their fear is that some officials may find a loophole and bypass the interception procedures to get access to communications data.
ALISTAIR DARLING, the Secretary of State for Transport, says his department is seriously pursuing hydrogen-based transport. It consulted recently with the Treasury and various other departments on the government鈥檚 Green Paper Powering Future Vehicles. This strategy report sets out the proposed framework for Britain鈥檚 shift to low-carbon transport to promote the development and take-up of new vehicle technologies and fuels, and to ensure the automotive industry鈥檚 full involvement in them.
The intention is to publish the final strategy later this year. It recognises that the ultimate low-carbon solution will probably be fuel cells using hydrogen, because of its potential as a zero-carbon, zero-emission fuel. But many major technical issues need to be resolved.
Against that background, the Powering Future Vehicles strategy is not seeking to second-guess the outcome of technological developments or lay out a blueprint for the way forward. Any technology or fuel鈥� including hydrogen鈥� that can help deliver low-carbon transport will be considered. But the government actively supports hydrogen and fuel-cell development, Darling said, adding that it has made a large financial contribution to enable Transport for London to test buses powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
The DfT wants technical progress but it will inevitably be some years before hydrogen and fuel-cell technologies become affordable for mass-market transportation. Nevertheless, hydrogen can play an important part in high-priority environmental niche uses in the shorter term, said Darling.
I get the feeling that the DfT and its new Secretary of State have plenty of good ideas.
