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UK U Turn on Electronic Communications Bill 

The UK Department of Trade and Industry has dropped controversial proposals from the Electronic Communications Bill which was published last Friday. The proposals would have allowed police to demand encryption keys from organisations and individuals, and made failure to provide them an imprisonable offense.

The shortened bill has been welcomed by most of the industry, and is now expected to pass easily when it is debated in Parliament early next year. However, critics of the new bill pointed out that the proposals are not dead.

Instead, Part III, which housed most of the controversial proposals, has been spun off into a new Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill which will be handled by the Home Office.

One of the most welcomed sections of the new bill would make electronic signatures as legally binding as handwritten ones

Electronic Communications Bill
Department of Trade and Industry
Home Office