Petition Scrap RIPA

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) should be scrapped. This legislation is flawed and allows the government and businesses access to information with hardly any genuine oversight. It constitutes a gross infringement of our civil liberties and privacy. The police force, local councils and other public sector organisations can self-authorise access to communications data without any sort of warrant or court order. It does nothing to protect our communications data from being unethically exploited by corporations (as BT and Phorm did in 2006). Councils have used the powers to regularly spy on residents. These laws justify snooping on innocent law abiding citizens. They are unjust and should be scrapped immediately.