A porn website that has taken umbrage with the Investigatory Powers Bill is urging everyone that visits its site to sign a petition calling for the recently-passed legislation.
Visitors to xHamster from the UK are being greeted with a pop-up message that asks them if they're aware of the new "surveillance" law and calls for them to sign a petition against it.
The Investigatory Powers Bill, which critics dub the Snoopers' Charter, has been controversial among the privacy conscious. It ratifies hacking and surveillance powers for the country's security services, as well as the ability to break encryption.
It also includes a provision for the bulk data collection of Britons' browsing habits, requiring internet and communications service providers to store the metadata of websites visited for 12 months.
The petition, which has over 170,000 signatures, describes the bill as "an absolute disgrace to both privacy and freedom and needs to stop!" It also says that as the legislation is yet to receive Royal Assent it isn't too late for it to be revoked - but the charter was in fact ratified at the end of November and will come into force in 2017. It is not the first
The Petitions Committee said it would not be scheduling another debate. And the Government responded: "The Investigatory Powers Act dramatically increases transparency around the use of investigatory powers. It protects both privacy and security and underwent unprecedented scrutiny before becoming law."
It is highly unlikely that additional signatures will have an effect on the legislation, which passed despite widespread criticism from rights organisations and major technology companies, including Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft.
The last three of these teamed up to submitted evidence that said the bill "could have far reaching implications - for our customers, for your own citizens and for the future of the global technology industry".
Meanwhile Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who revealed GCHQ's extensive surveillance powers, described it as "the most extreme surveillance in the history of western democracy".
0 comments: