UK's Investigatory Powers Bill to become law despite tech world opposition
The UK's contentious Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill (IPB) 2024 has officially received the King's nod of approval and will become law.
Dubbed the "snooper's charter" by critics, it aims to widen the digital surveillance powers of the existing Investigatory Powers Act 2016 (IPA) used by UK intelligence services, the police, government, and some emergency services.
Before the latest amendments came into force, the IPA already allowed authorized parties to gather swathes of information on UK citizens and tap into telecoms activity – phone calls and SMS texts.
The IPB's amendments add to the Act's existing powers and help authorities trawl through more data, which the government claims is a way to tackle "modern" threats to national security and the abuse of children.
"The world-leading Investigatory Powers regime is crucial to keeping the public safe," said security minister Tom Tugendhat. "That's why we're making urgent, targeted changes to the Investigatory Powers Act to ensure our laws keep pace with rapidly changing technology and to guard against modern threats to national security.
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