After a High Court challenge, the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (DRIPA) has been ruled unlawful, but it may just be a temporary setback for the government.

Liberty, supported by two MPs, launched a challenge to the draconian new powers that were enshrined into law in July 2014 and the High Court sided with the petition. The act simply did not ensure that access to data was limited to detection of serious crimes and granted sweeping and potentially damaging powers to law enforcement and other government agencies that were open to abuse. 

The Act effectively granted the government a free reign to intercept and analyse the public’s electronic mail and communications.

There has been a good deal of discussion in recent months over the security of our electronic mail and a number of governments are taking steps to encroach on the privacy of the general population. 

France has come under the spotlight for passing an all-encompassing surveillance law that is in much the same vein as DRIPA. Some critics believe the French government made political capital of the attacks on the offices of Charlie Hebdo to rush through legislation under emergency procedures, which meant the subject simply was not debated at any great length. The law was approved almost without dissent in June and was referred and brought in as soon as possible, despite concerns voiced by the United Nations, among others.

While the UK’s version has been ruled unlawful for the moment, the Home Office has already signalled its intent to appeal. The Conservative government is determined to pass its own all-encompassing laws, nicknamed the Snooper’s Charter, which goes even further than DRIPA and gives law enforcement and separate government agencies total licence to invade the privacy of anyone, ostensibly in the name of national security.

The feeling is that the latest High Court ruling is simply a temporary reprieve and that the Snooper’s Charter is coming, whether the population wants it or not. Electronic surveillance is clearly on the rise and both England and France face an Orwellian future of electronic overseers that can delve into our private correspondence at any time.