Why do you think RIPA was widely advertised as a means to combat terrorism? Here is the Home Office site from the time; https://web.archive.org/web/20000510065

Why do you think RIPA was widely advertised as a means to combat terrorism? Here is the Home Office site from the time; https://web.archive.org/web/20000510065613/http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/oicd/ripbill.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20000510065613/http://www.homeof... Which includes an open letter the Home Secretary wrote in defence of the bill; https://web.archive.org/web/20000601233317/http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/oicd/openrip.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20000601233317/http://www.homeof... Here are the Explanatory Notes from the act itself; https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/23/notes#:~:text=Summary%20and%20Background&text=The%20main%20purpose%20of%20the,data%20(eg%20billing%20data)%3B https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/23/notes#:~:text=S... None of them mentions terrorism. What RIPA did was made it illegal for local councils to do the kind of busy body, nosy neighbour surveillance they were already doing - unless they obtained an authority to do so. It also provided the means of redress for people wrongfully subjected to such surveillance. In other words it introduced proper regulation of intrusive investigative techniques.