4 ms·
From https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/In_the_interests_of_the_economic_well-being_of_the_United_Kingdom https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/In_the_intere
by elemeno 13y ago
From https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/In_the_interests_of_the_economic_well-being_of_the_United_Kingdom https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/In_the_interests_of_th... -
"The House will notice that the Bill restricts the activities of the SIS and GCHQ for safeguarding the economic well-being of the country to the acts or intentions of persons outside the United Kingdom. The agencies may not and do not get involved in domestic economic, commercial or financial affairs."
So it's not quite as broad reaching as it reads on first glance. It is generally a problem though that laws need to be written so they're broad enough to cover circumstances which might not have been considered at the time of the laws' writing so that new laws don't need to be written all the time yet they can't be so overly broad as to be unworkable - which is why the judiciary has it's role in deciding how to interpret the laws and decide whether or not they ought to apply in a given circumstance.
- jackgavigan 13y agoAlso, one can argue that it's a good thing in general that our intelligence and security services' activities are regulated by laws like this (instead of operating in grey areas beyond the law). And, by the way, activities carried out by the UK's intelligence and security services OUTSIDE the UK are also subject to RIPA.