But Whitehall has quickly tried again. Bill as the House of Lords started to scrutinise it line by line. Without even a whiff of a warrant, spooks will then be able to see who's e-mailing who. And when they do have a warrant, they can intercept a person's e-mail. If a person cannot find a key, they must convince a jury that they are not just hiding it, or face a jail sentence of up to two years.
Nobody is happy.
Privacy groups complain that the bill violates human rights. ISPs argue that Net technology changes so rapidly that the cost of the interception equipment will be unbearable. Other companies warn that the bill's loose wording will give just about any government official the right to snoop. This mess has been caused largely because the government still thinks the Net is like a phone system. But it's not.