A panel of internet service providers and security experts told MPs at a Common select committee that the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill will lead to broadband prices increasing due to the technical cost of following the legislation.
The Government have announced they will be budgeting £175 million to cover the costs of bringing providers in line with the proposed legislation. However, ISPs have warned that the actual costs of storing the metadata required will be much greater.
James Blessing, Chair of the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) said that even if the hardware and upfront costs were paid for by the budget set aside for the bill, “the ongoing costs for storing and looking after that data…will still have to come out of individual end-user customer price rises”.
Chief Executive of Gigaclear, Matthew Hare agreed, saying: “The indiscriminate collection of mass data is going to have a massive cost.”
There was also the suggestion that additional fees could arise from the need to outfit every ISP and communications provider who would be storing data with suitable encryption and protection. It was noted these fees would be “minor”, as many ISP’s already have high level security procedures in place, but would be a fee nonetheless.
John Shaw of security firm Sophos also suggested that the legislation could damage UK businesses as it would make internet and software companies less appealing when compared to companies in other countries, for whom the bill would not apply. He said the bill: “ran the risk of putting UK-based companies at a disadvantage when trading with non-UK citizens who would then be suspicious.”
The committee was to discuss the technical implications of the bill. Two more committees are to follow at a later date to discuss the ethical implications, it was announced.
Members of the panel stated that they hoped the bill, as it stood now, was not passed, though said there were some elements of it that were acceptable and reasonable.
The Draft Investigatory Powers Bill has recently come under criticism from Apple CEO Tim Cook, as well as Human Rights Watch.